


The Dregs of Giga City

by Ysavvryl



Series: MMX Alternate Timeline [3]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, City Warfare, Civilian Heroes, Gen, Giga City, Mentor Protagonist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-05 00:04:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 180,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5353334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysavvryl/pseuds/Ysavvryl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>MMX: CM.  The civilian-based Resistance is attempting to reclaim their city from the military-based Rebellion, despite the immense challenge.  But then a legendary hero falls out of the sky and onto their doorstep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude: City of Dreams part 1

**Author's Note:**

> MMX: Command Mission is a nice RPG. I wouldn't call it one of the greatest RPGs out there, but it is a lot of fun, there's no noticeable bugs, and the battle system is great (any of those three points are sometimes lacking from 'great' RPGs...). I would definitely recommend playing through it to anybody who likes the Mega Man series or RPGs in general.  
> Now that I've said that, this is a novelization of CM, sort of. There's many points that I adjusted because while the game is fun, the story has a few problems when you think it through. I've tried to give more valid reasons for certain parts and give differing angles on this conflict. I hope you like this!

The view from the upper level plazas of Central Tower was both magnificent and humbling. In the crowds, he was called a striking figure, a six and a half feet tall humanoid with broad shoulders and armor styled after a formal military uniform. People tended to give him a certain level of respect just off their first impression. But that wasn't how it was here, leaning on the railing at the edge of the garden plaza. That view made him feel almost insignificant.

There just seemed to be no end to it. The vast blue sky above, dotted with puffy white clouds and lined with feathering jet trails, showed the enormous scale of the planet. Then below, far far below, there was the ocean, a darker blue which covered up mysterious depths. As visibility was of high today, he could see other areas of Giga City. One could reach them in minutes, or even seconds, thanks to modern transport technology. But up here, one realized just how vast the city was. And much of it was empty space and open ocean.

Over in the distance, he could see a mass of green; that was the forest district, a place that was made to seem natural even though a forest should not be growing on the surface of the salty ocean water, or even on a steel man-made platform. Over in another direction, he could see another tall tower. It was tiny compared to Central Tower, even though it was tall when one was there. That was the headquarters, workshop, and lab of the Lagrano Corporation. Yes, that place… the one that he had only recently run away from.

A movement out of the corner of his eye distracted him from Lagrano Tower. Next to him, there was a male human spreading his hands out to indicate an area of ocean. As this man worked through his fifth decade of life, his black hair was graying and his body was starting to loosen. But he worked to cultivate an image of gentlemanly grace, not aging. There was a machine attached to him, a gray electronics pad that sat comfortably on his shoulders and upper back, attached to transparent tubes that hooked into a thin metal frame around his neck. A second frame ran around his forehead. As the environment was still on the dangerous side for humans and other biological creatures, they had to wear protective gear like this at any time they would be in contact with the outdoors.

"That would be where it fell," the man said. "A massive meteor a mile and a half wide lies under the waters there. It came down after the sixth Maverick War, just about twenty-five years ago. There was a great deal of panic when it was first detected. After all, we had just experienced a cataclysmic event when the Eurasia station fell. And this meteor would cause an even bigger impact."

"And there's nobody you can blame a meteor on," the reploid said.

The human nodded. "Right, it was just the right circumstances to put Earth and the meteor in each other's paths. But there was a difference; we had more warning of the event, so we had more time to do something about it. So humans and reploids put their minds together and came up with a plan. We would make an attempt to catch the meteor instead of letting it fall willy-nilly. Gravity generators could provide the resistance necessary to slow the meteor down, to create less of an impact. Three rings of generators were placed on a path in orbit down to the outermost atmosphere, guiding the meteor down to a whole path of generator rings down to the ocean's surface here.

"As you can imagine, those generators required a massive load of power. People came out here and built the nuclear reactor that makes up the lower portions of this tower for this purpose. And while the reploids were the only ones allowed to do certain jobs, the biological shields allowed us humans to contribute too. A good many of us felt that we shouldn't slack off even though many of your kind were willing to work on the meteor capture scheme."

"I'd agree to that," the reploid said.

The man closed his eyes briefly, thinking through the next portion of his history lesson. "Many who are here now are those who worked together on this project, myself included. We did capture the meteor safely; we had trained with various kinds of debris, but when the actual meteor entered Earth's gravitational field, that was one of the most intense and suspenseful experiences of my life. And once we were here, well, many of us decided to stay. We continued building up the generator's tower until we got this lofty wonder that stands here today. We created new islands to build on, and we made submerged passages to the meteor below.

"And that is when we encountered the new gold that Giga City was built with, the force metals. It was a miracle substance back then. It is a crystalline alloy that is somehow able to interact with electronics and enhance them with stored power. And there is such a wide variety of abilities that the FMs have: more strength, more endurance, even something as ethereal as more luck or more focus. Not only that, but it required very little modifications done to you reploids in order to make use of them. Most so-called upgrades to use FMs are merely putting in a secure slot to keep them attached."

"And so Giga City hit a boom in growth," the reploid said. "And ones like me were designed."

He nodded. "That's right. It was like the old days of North America's gold rushes. This city did not exist twenty-five years ago, and now it is one of the biggest cities in the world." He rubbed his nose; a faint transparent white glow appeared there as the environment shield increased activity to compensate. "But like those gold rush days, this growth has been wild and somewhat dangerous. I am acknowledged as the Governor of Giga City, but respect for the law is shaky. Our police force is keeping order, but barely; I will admit to hiring bounty hunters regularly, as the police department still isn't up-to-date with equipment. Lots of jobs are being created, making splendid cover for scam artists to cheat newcomers. There's a lot that needs to be done.

"And while we need to find a legal system to stop these abuses, we still have to acknowledge that a lot of our wealth comes from technology developers and our open policy on citizenship. We can't put too many restrictions in place or we will handicap our growth. Along with that, we need to keep our government trustworthy, making sure abuses like bribes don't get started." He took a deep breath, leaning on the railing himself. "It's a lot to do for us."

"Sounds like a tricky process," the reploid said. "And you want me to help?"

The Governor nodded. "Yes. I've heard your tale and I know this isn't exactly what you were designed for. But you have the right mind for it; I'm certain of it now. And this city was founded on a joint effort between humans and reploids." He smiled. "I want things to stay in that cooperative spirit, each side respecting the other. That's why I'm looking to add more reploids into the political structure. I'm very impressed by what you can do, Chief R, and I would be honored to work alongside you."

The reploid smiled at that, touched. After the environment of the lab which he had been built in, it was wonderful to receive that level of respect from a human. "In that case, it would be great to work as your assistant. I'll do my best."

With that said, the Governor and Chief R shook hands. "And I'm here to help you at any point along the way. Don't be afraid to ask."

* * *

 

Aile checked over his guns, his armor, just one last time. This was going to be a difficult job, but it should pay very well. Still, something seemed unfair about it. On their last big bounty, they had been given specialized weapons, extra armor, and tactical support in order to take down their target. That had been eliminating an extremely dangerous Lagrano reploid named Ninetales; they were still getting compliments and admiration for that victory. According to the records, this target might be just as dangerous. However, they weren't given any special accommodations to take him out.

Nearby, his partner was whistling, shuffling cards in a speed form of Solitaire. Sometimes it unnerved him when he acted that casual when Aile knew that he was nervous too. "Are you ready for this?" he asked the gambler.

"Of course I am," Spider said, deciding to slot his cards back into his strange weapon. "Just getting bored; these elevators take forever."

"I'll agree with you there." He felt along the edges of his helmet. Despite his humanoid design, he didn't have any hair. Sometimes he wished he had so that such gestures looked less nervous. Blow it off with teasing? "But geez, why is it that all of you Melda reploids seem so blasé about everything?"

He laughed, then punched Aile in the shoulder. "Maybe it's because we don't have a madman in charge like you reploids from Lagrano," he teased.

He snickered in response; that did work some. "Hey, nobody can prove that," he countered. Although, Lagrano did seem hell bent on creating his own reploid army when he didn't much care for the reploids themselves. It was a real problem, though Aile wouldn't admit it beyond jokes. "Besides, Melda's group is mass producing when Lagrano is still single crafting. Except for oddball one-offs like you."

"Well I'm unique because I'm speshul," Spider said while mimicking a pre-teen girl's voice and batting his eyes.

"Special because you're a nutcase."

He put on a mock indignant look. "Hey, I'll let you know that I'm actually one nut short of a case."

"Right, if you say so." It stopped, opening up to a low level on Central Tower. "Let's get him."

Spider nodded, tipping his black hat. Aile checked his arm mounted radar, then led the way down a corridor. As it was a maintenance hall, the walls were full of pipes and wires; steam escaped and turned the air into a light haze. Perhaps it had been chosen for lack of traffic. Their target was nearby.

They came to a large empty room, shaped like a cube. There were sparking electrical panels along the corners for some reason. In the middle of the room, two reploids were talking. One was an orange haired female model who had an engineer's build. The other was a yellow haired male model who had a light fighter's build. But that was who they were looking for.

"Deo Midas!" Aile called. "We're here to arrest you."

"Arrest me?" the blond male asked. "I doubt you could do it."

"Hang on," the female said, turning around. "I am the shield; I will not allow you to…" she was cut off suddenly.

Deo Midas activated a yellow blade and put it right through her. "You're not necessary," he stated, then threw her to the side of the room. "I am Deo Midas, the sword. You will not take me alive."

"Fine, then we'll take you dead," Spider said, firing his cards at the criminal. Aile followed up with a rapid firing of his guns. He ran in a curve to keep a hard target, but get closer.

And then…

…he had changed again, this time to a lion-headed humanoid reploid. Aile continued fighting, but he was getting worn down. Deo Midas' next blow knocked him to his knees.

Then Spider got up beside him. "Hey, buddy, take my force metals… that should let you finish him off."

Aile nodded and took the set his partner gave him, adding them to his own. Their power blazed through his systems, making him feel like he was on fire. No, he should get rid of them before he overloaded… but he couldn't. His mind snapped and he attacked Midas in a blind rage…

… when they defeated the murderous reploid, he suddenly flashed with a bright light. In his place, there was a plant-like reploid with long thorny vines. "I am Deo Midas!" he called. "You can't keep up with me." He shot his vines out, piercing Spider's body through and ripping out a number of his internal parts…

…He had the power to do anything. If something was wrong, Aile could set it right. If he wanted something, he could have it. If someone annoyed him, he could punch their head right off their body.

All he needed were the right Force Metals to do it. And he needed more. The burning fires within told him that he was weak, that he needed to be stronger. But he could have anything, he could do anything. It was within his reach…

…if he could survive the power…

…Aile could see that his body was still there, but he couldn't feel it. The burning sensation was still there, but lessened. What replaced it was a mass of confusion, thoughts that didn't quite match up. He saw Spider by him. "Sorry, man. I messed up. But you killed him, see?" There was quite a mess of ripped parts all around the room.

"This is going to kill me, right?" Aile asked, afraid.

"I'm not going to let that happen. Just go to sleep."

He agreed, but as he did so, he wondered for a moment…

…hadn't he seen Spider get ripped apart?

…and that smirk Spider had was strange.

* * *

 

Aile ran his fingers down his face. His eyelids closed to protect his eyes and the synthetic skin bent to the pressure. But other than that, it did not move. He could not wrinkle his nose, he could not yawn… he could not smile. Not that he had any reason to smile now.

He looked over his hands, still able to twist, flex, grab… if one just saw his hands, one would think nothing was wrong with him. It was some kind of mercy of luck. But such a little mercy compared to the rest of his malfunctioning body. That force metal overload really should have killed him. At least he had killed Deo Midas.

That's what everyone said. As for himself, Aile couldn't be sure. His memory of that afternoon was so disjointed that he couldn't fit the pieces together. It all made him feel humbled, no, humiliated. Powerless. After that brief time when he had tasted a power so strong that it seemed he could overcome any obstacle or opponent, and that he could be in the right because he had the power to be right… no. He pinched his skin, barely able to feel it. That power was what had ruined him.

Hearing a whistled melody, Aile dropped his hand and looked down the windowed hallway. Over by another large window, Chief R was there, presumably on break. His parrot mechaniloid was sitting on the window ledge; it was the one that was whistling. R was conducting it with his fingers, or at least playing at conducting. Part of Aile wanted to get away from such silly cheer. But a stronger part of him wanted to feel that silly cheer again.

His hoverchair was a new part of himself, as he couldn't even sit up on his own anymore, much less get up and walk. Even though he had the instructions imprinted in his programming, he was still getting used to the inertia of the thing, and how to guide it without crashing into anyone or anything. Aile slowly brought it over closer to R and his parrot, but stopped before speaking with his new voice mod. "It's quite a good singer for a mechaniloid," he commented, trying to sound lighthearted.

Whether he was or not, R smiled and turned to him. "Ah, Aile. Yes, I had it programmed to do that even though it's not much actual use. It is a pet, anyhow, so there's no harm in letting it know some useless but amusing tricks. How are you doing today?"

"I'm alive," he said. That was the best he could be, it seemed.

"That's always a blessing. Have you found a new job yet?"

"No. Haven't even looked, really."

"Why not? There's plenty of employers around looking for new reploids."

Aile clenched his fist. "But why would they want me? I'm a broken reploid; I can't really do much like this. I'm dependent on these anti-depressants that don't do much more than make me apathetic instead of suicidal. There really isn't much of a point to me being here. Dr. Lagrano disowned me. No one would really care if I was gone."

The parrot stopped its song and gave a sad sounding whistle. "I would," R said.

"Why is that?" Aile said, wishing he could turn his neck and not look anywhere near R. "We're not friends. You hardly know me."

"But we could be friends," he suggested. "And any loss of life is tragic. Especially with someone like you, who has fallen by no fault of your own."

He put his hand to his chest. "You really think that?" He kind of wanted to be cynical about it. But the sympathy was refreshing.

R came over and put his hand on Aile's shoulder. "Of course. Hmm, it's that kind of optimism and respect for life that got me disowned too. So what do you say? We can form the support group for reploids unfairly disowned by Lagrano's corporation. I know there's more than just us out there."

"With his personality, there would be." He put his hand to his lips. "I am smiling, even if I can't."

That made him smile wider. "Great! And, I think I can hire you as my personal assistant. I like my current job, but an extra set of hands and eyes would be handy."

"Wouldn't that make me the assistant to the governor's assistant?" Aile pointed out.

"Now that you mention it, yes. Well let's go meet with the Governor. He's a good guy, trust me, and I'm sure that I can convince him to get you on the government payroll."

"All right," he said, then followed Chief R and the parrot up to the governor's precinct. Maybe there was still hope for him, even if he had to work harder for it than anyone else.

* * *

 

The sun was beating down on the slum district, baking the trash in the alleyways to release a horrible odor that was worse than the heat. Everywhere, the residents were doing what they could to endure this day. The humans kept to the shaded areas, using paper or cardboard fans to attempt to stir up the air and cool off. The reploids stayed indoors mostly, not badly affected by it but still uncomfortable. Over in one apartment, an ice-based reploid was turning a tidy profit by offering some time in her room to cool off.

Yellow Sunbee was more tolerant than most, given that she was built to endure high (and low) temperature settings. But she still disliked days like today, as the humidity was oppressive, the stench was horrid, and the others were all complaining. She flew far above the streets for as long as she could, but eventually had to descend to a street level entrance to one apartment.

After making her way through the maze of jagged hallways and the shaky elevator, she came to her apartment. The door was open, but that didn't bother her. She could hear a voice inside that meant that things were safe, even if the owner of the voice was doing his best not to lose his temper.

"I know it's on my records, but it was a false accusation," the red haired reploid said. He was a humanoid model, unlike her, being an anthro based off a queen honeybee. "Yes, I have been checking in with local authorities to ascertain that I'm clean. It's… it's fine, you can check my court records." He turned and saw her, which immediately caused him to relax and smile. "Hi honey," he mouthed to her before he had to speak to the phone. "It's all legal and I'm confident in my parole officer."

She waved to him, then went over to the computer console to check on news reports. Kratos could be a while, she thought. It was always the same, even with her. They had once been respected reploids with guaranteed jobs. And then someone had accused them of being Mavericks. The whole thing was a lie meant to ruin them, and it succeeded wildly at it. Sunbee was reduced to doing newspaper delivery while Kratos had been laid off three times in the past six months.

Eventually, he said goodbye and slammed the phone down. The sound was almost lost over throbbing hum of the window box fan that was trying to circulate air in their tiny apartment. He came over to her. "I don't think I'm getting that job."

She paused in her reading to turn around and hug him. "You'll find another one," she said reassuringly, although it was nearly a lost cause. "Maybe you'll just have to downgrade for a little while."

He squeezed her for a moment. "Maybe."

"I can keep the rent going, at least." She let him go and dropped back into her chair.

Kratos pulled up another one to sit by her. "It stinks that we've been reduced to stuff a half-decent mechaniloid could do." He clenched his fist. "Sometimes I think it might be worth it to sock it to that guy."

"No it won't," she said gently. "Just think, we've only got a couple of years until the statement gets dropped from our public records. We can be quiet and obedient until then."

He sighed and looked down. It wasn't so easy for him; he'd been built for the job of a guard, which required him to keep in good fighting condition. But then he leaned over and put his head on her shoulder. "It's rough, but at least we're together."

"Yeah. Hey, I've been reading more about what's going on in Giga City. They're in a huge boom now, expanding faster than they expected. And they still need more workers. And it's supposed to be a pretty liberal place, so even we might be able to get some decent jobs there. It might be mining or other hard labor. But at least it isn't delivering newspapers. And I think we could really have a chance to do a lot better there."

He was struggling to have any optimism, though. Sunbee could see it in his dour expression. "Like some dream city, huh?"

"It's not a dream," she said, switching the computer screen to Giga City's network. "It's real, but we could make dreams come true there. And look, they have so much there. The Central Tower district sounds like a great place to live, with three different marketplaces, lots of things to do… oh, and there's Vanallia District, where they have testing and training for combat reploids. They would be able to get you back to where you were, or even better than that. Maybe not immediately, but in time."

He brushed his hand over one of her feelers, causing her to pause. "You really want to go there. You've been looking into this for a while, haven't you?"

She blushed, trying to cover it with a smile. "I've always been looking for some way to make things better. There's some problems with Giga City, of course, but the more I look into it, the better choice it seems to be. Besides, do you really want to stay here?" She waved her hand to indicate their closet-sized slum apartment. "If we don't want to fall through as junky reploids, maybe we ought to get away from the trash."

That seemed to be working, as he nodded. "That would be nice, to escape that label. I could deal with mining, but what about you?"

"You know me; I'll do what I have to to keep going. And to cheer you up." When he chuckled at that, she patted his head. "I mean that. It breaks my heart to see you all stressed, upset, and angry like this. We're going to make it through this so long as we stick together."

"I love you so much, Sunbee.

"I love you too, Kratos."


	2. City of Dreams, part 2

Millions of words, swirling around in his head. Millions of words, triggering millions of ideas. They evoked images of places, peoples, and things that he had never seen before. They recited history, they expressed hope, they betrayed evil, they questioned everything. Words even questioned themselves, asking how they represented things, if those ideas were good, how he knew, what he knew, why he knew…

"Epsilon?"

If words only meant things because people said they did, then how were their meanings determined? If any word could be a falsehood, a truth, or anything in between, then how could you know which words to trust? How could you know what ideas and images to trust? When did you begin to know anything instead of thinking that you knew something? And who could be a real authority when words were a tool, a weapon, a craft, an art?

"Epsilon."

But the most important thing about words to him, he knew that. He knew that right now, words were important because they allowed him to ignore the pain. If he focused on the words, on the ideas, and questioned them until he found answers to satisfy himself, then he could not focus on the pain that filled every inch of his body.

"Epsilon!"

Something jerked him forward, inciting the nerves to scream out their complaints louder. Epsilon gasped, struggling to hold onto the thoughts that he had been examining. But whoever was out there was not going to relent. Reluctantly, he brought himself out of his world of words and into the world of reality.

His eyes wanted to rip themselves out of his skull to avoid the sting of the bright lights of the lab. But they couldn't do that, not without the help of his hands. As he started interpreting images instead of words, he found himself face to face with the one responsible for his existence in pain. Dr. Lagrano.

The human made a disapproving noise before releasing him (and causing more pain when Epsilon hit the back of the chair). "Let's pay a little more attention to reality, hmm?" He walked off to a screen. The screen was attached to a computer, which was attached to some wires, which were attached to various ports over his body. But paying attention to that only gave him a half-second reprieve.

"Reality is only what you perceive it as," Epsilon said, ignoring the sandpapery feel of his mouth. "Since it is based on perception, my reality is different than your reality."

"Oh please, not this again," he grumbled. "You're the only one left of the SFM Core project, so I don't need you wandering off in your fluffy philosophies."

"Those who know seek to question," he replied. "You should know this. You question things."

"Not to the extent of debating how to define the words 'No' and 'Yes' without using the other or a synonym. That is just plain ridiculous and pointless." The wires let go of him, to some order from Lagrano. "I need you in another area of the lab for testing. Get up and come with us."

Epsilon felt a blush of shame, causing a wince from the warm feeling in his face. "It's too painful for me to move," he said.

"I've heard that from you many times and I want to know why. And for that, we have to move you somewhere else. Luckily, I planned for this. Scarface, Ferham, help him up and support him to the other lab."

"Yes sir," the two other reploids said, coming over into his view. The two of them were both smaller than him, in height and in breadth. One was a male in a sleek full bodied one piece armor that seemed to be just a tight second skin; his head was fully covered by a masked hood, but his long white hair was free. The other was a female in multi-plated armor, in a form that was like a bird of prey. But they were both able to take hold of his arms and help him up, then support him on their shoulders.

In order to move, he had to bump his power production up from the very low threshold he had been using. That caused a new wave of pain, something that could be described as both frigid and burning despite the fact that the words stood for opposite ideas. But it was Lagrano's orders, so Epsilon bit down on any cries and made himself move.

The most frustrating thing about all this was that he couldn't spare any more energy to move or the pain might just cross over to unbearable. Yet he was operating at a small fraction of his full power. The two supporting him were expending more power than he was. If he were to use the same percentage of power as they were, he could probably bring down this entire tower all by himself. And that wouldn't even be his full capacity. He had access to unbelievable powers.

But he knew that if he used those powers, he would go insane. Before he had learned to modulate his power to the barest minimum, he had nearly done so. There was just so much power within him and no one would be able to stop him if he let loose with it. The scientists spoke of the force metals as such amazing things, with intriguing mysteries to solve. But he had seen into the kind of power that the metal in his core was tapping into. It was… it would devour his mind, twist his words, and eventually consume him.

He had realized that in time and resisted it, turned away from temptation. In punishment, he was inflicted with constant pain. But Dr. Lagrano would not believe that this condition was a curse from the force metal. He would not listen. He never listened.

Still, Epsilon kept trying. When they were in the elevator, they had stopped and he could speak. "What happened to the others with the SFM Core?"

"They failed," Lagrano said with no emotion.

"They went mad or were consumed by this power," Epsilon corrected.

That just annoyed the corporation owner. "Don't pretend to know what you can't. Not even philosophy can do that."

"I can correlate from my own experience and what the other scientists say. You are a fool, Dr. Lagrano."

The human turned to him, eyebrows in anger. "How can you accuse me of being a fool? I'm the one responsible for your very existence, all three of you."

"And so you should be responsible," Espilon echoed. "But you are cruel and blind to your cruelty. You are creating intelligent and powerful beings, but you do not acknowledge their intelligence nor their power. I could kill you right now."

That didn't seem to scare him. "Have you gone mad too? I would hate to have another failure."

"Only because that would damage your reputation further. But I am not mad. I have not yet killed you. But it is not out of respect. It is because I will not allow myself to be a fool."

"You are being foolish in disrespecting me in front of two others."

Epsilon allowed himself a faint smile, as a full one would feel like a crack in his face. "Am I? I believe that you ordered them to help me get to the lab. Not defend you from me should I turn aggressive in a physical manner. They probably only follow your word because they haven't thought they could act against it."

"You had better stop right now or I will recycle you."

Fortunately for Lagrano, the elevator door opened just then. Epsilon gave up on harassing him with words in order to focus again on walking without triggering too much pain. Perhaps he was constantly on a hairline fault next to insanity. But as long as he could, he would fight to keep his mind.

He was quiet until they reached the lab. Then Epsilon had to lie on the floor so he could get onto the worktable. The effort to get down slowly without losing his balance and causing a crash was enough that he gasped as his waist gave off a particularly strong wrenching pain. As the work table lifted itself out of the floor, he gratefully powered back down to minimal levels. It was a relief, even if not a full release from pain.

It was time to return to his words.

* * *

 

There was talk that the time of Mavericks was nearly over. Outbreaks of reploids infected by the various maverick-inducing viruses were less common; they were usually confined to a few areas. While there were still a precious few proven immune reploids, more and more were recognized as resistant or highly-resistant. Curative measures were reliable and proper avoidance education was available. Despite this, the Maverick Hunters were still around.

More of their work was turning into that of a law enforcement agency, not a militia. Missions for arresting criminal or irregular reploids had already outpaced ones for containing infected Mavericks. And there were a good number of workers who did exclusively clerical work: approving legal papers for reploids, notarizing documents, and other government work. There was still the need for combat-capable reploids, if not as many as before. One of the best things that came out of this change was that the active Maverick Hunters were able to have an actual training period instead of getting a sink-or-swim start to their careers.

Although support and combat reploids were trained separately, they were together today as the supports were testing for radio operations. "They're annoying," one of the other combat reploids complained. "I know what I'm doing."

"Their job is important," Wedge argued. "They can notice stuff that you don't. I know because my brother has always been an excellent support partner."

"No way. They just slow us down."

Normally, he didn't argue much. He was unpopular in this group due to the fact that he was a generic model built by an independent engineer. It was like being the kid from the trailer park. Even so, things concerning his twin brother Biggs tended to get Wedge defensive. "Not as much as they help. Heck, I'm sure I could do a mission blinded if I had my brother helping me out."

"Is that so?" their training officer said. He had been gone briefly, and they hadn't noticed him come back. "Why don't you do that then?"

So Wedge had been sent into the combat simulator area blindfolded. Not only that, but they had thrown Biggs in there too, to help directly rather than just through the radio. "Sorry bro," he said quietly. "I didn't think he'd actually make us do this."

"It's okay," Biggs said, patting his shoulder. "We've done this before. Let's do this right."

"It's what we always do," he replied, feeling better. It helped that they were often of the same mind.

They got the signal that the simulation had begun. The noise level was high, but it seemed to be an urban conflict. Before long, Biggs confirmed that, sending information directly to Wedge along with the transmission, " _We're on a city freeway, a good ways off ground level. There's moving cars in the other lane, but we're clear. Also, the pavement's cracked. Be ready to jump."_

" _Right."_ He moved ahead, shooting at mechaniloids based on his brother's information. After being directed around some holes and wrecks, he had to jump over a missing part of the pavement. It didn't require dash-jumping, which was good because then they'd have to find some other way to go around for Biggs.

Once they got in sync, it wasn't that hard. Biggs dodged any incoming fire while Wedge fired back, using the energy gun at first, then swapping to one of his two blades if needed to finish off the foe. They were making a good pace, partly to prove that the support reploid would not slow him down.

" _Be careful!"_ Biggs said, causing Wedge to slow slightly. " _Something about the simulator has changed. I'm trying to find out what. Jump ahead."_

Wedge jumped over a pile of rubble, then made sure Biggs made it over too. At this point, his brother did have to slow down and check the info he had… one flying foe fired at him. Activating his thinner R-Blade, Wedge knocked the plasma burst back into the foe. Biggs couldn't dodge when he was doing a deep sensing.

" _What? Wedge, we've got a high AI opponent ahead. From my scans, it appears to be a simulation of a viral Maverick."_

" _Seriously? We haven't gotten to that point, I thought."_

" _Me either. Well it's a part of the simulator's programming, so it's intentional. Let's take it on."_

Past some more rubble, they came to a fairly intact section of freeway. There, they encountered a reploid simulation that was riding a medium-sized bipedal mech. Despite it only being nine feet tall, Biggs' senses noted that it was equipped with a large number of missiles. The driver opted to rely on the mech's giant plasma blade arm instead.

Biggs stepped out of the blade's range while Wedge opted to roll under it, slashing his V-Blade into its ankles as he moved behind it. That might be enough to cripple the mech's walking ability, a weakness of any device designed like this. While Biggs moved around behind the mech to stay close to him, the mech driver sent a missile spam after them. " _How accurate are those?"_

" _Guessing, mid."_

" _Right, then come with me."_ He snatched his brother's hand with his left, then kept his V-Blade active in his right. They ran right past the mech's left side, close enough for Wedge to touch it. Taking a passing slash, he pulled his brother ahead and slightly to the right. The missiles had managed to curve around to behind the mech, but couldn't correct that last motion and slammed into it from behind. Biggs let go in time to avoid getting slashed by the mech's blade.

With the mech breaking down, the driver opted to teleport out, away from this battle. The simulation session ended. They got teleported back to the meeting area.

"That was harsh, throwing them against Vile," someone commented. "Even simplifying that battle."

"Vile?" Biggs asked. "That was supposed to be Vile?"

"Yes it was," the speaker said. The training officer took off Wedge's blindfold in time for him to see that it was X, one of the most famous of the Maverick hunters.

"But at a marginal ability," the training officer said gruffly. "I wanted to see how far he could take that boast; it's surprising that you two pulled it off."

"Yes, that was remarkable teamwork." X smiled at them, then looked to the training officer. "Who's next?"

Later that day, they got word that X had requested them personally for his unit. As that was one of the greatest honors that a new Maverick Hunter could receive, the twins found themselves significantly more popular than before.

* * *

 

Scarface found himself faced with an ethical puzzle. He had two ideas that seemed equally good, equally important. But they conflicted with each other, claiming that the other was wrong. This did not make sense. In his view, ideas that were both good should not conflict. These two did.

On one hand, he valued loyalty and unwavering faith. He was meant to be someone whose allegiance would never be questioned, for he would never betray. The betrayal of someone he worked for was despicable in his mind. As he had been built by the Lagrano Corporation, his loyalty was to them. Although young for a current day reploid at fifteen months, he was already a vital part in Lagrano Tower's security. He had heard that at one time, a reploid would be considered lucky if they made it to their first year anniversary alive and without being infected. But those days were gone. He should stay loyal to the corporation and its leader for years to come.

On the other hand, he valued honor and chivalry. Scarface felt that polite behaviors should be the norm. People ought to be treated with respect, yet held accountable for their actions. This became a problem when the people around him were impolite and dishonorable. At first, he had tried to correct them. But he was often ignored; the behaviors continued. He could try to ignore them. But it grated on his sensibilities.

The two ideals came into conflict when the people he was loyal to behaved in dishonorable ways. He did not feel it was right to work for someone without honor. Yet these people had built him, so they must have favored these ideals even if they did not follow them. Was it dishonorable of him to betray a poor master, or to keep working under one?

While he struggled with this, he kept thinking to Epsilon. Now there was a reploid that he could admire. Apparently, he lived in constant pain, but resisted the temptation to lash out because of it. And he was extremely intelligent. Dr. Lagrano was alleviating Epsilon's pain little by little, giving him more time to speak with others. And he never failed to impress Scarface. The masked knight listened to him often, amazed that a reploid less than half his age came up with the ideas he had. Of course, he did speak of betraying Dr. Lagrano, which went against Scarface's principles. But it made sense when it came from Epsilon, somehow.

He heard a commotion coming from a nearby staircase. Ferham soon flew through the doorway and landed in the hall, looking angered with her eyes harsh and her wings twitching. Moments later, one of the human researchers came into the hall after her. "Why are you being so disagreeable tonight?" he asked, grabbing her arm. "You normally don't have a problem with this."

"Not now," she hissed, snatching her arm away. "I don't care if you jerks made me this way; maybe I don't want to do that at any call."

"You should be more sociable," he replied, starting to show some anger too. "We can look into that if you're not behaving properly."

"Just give me some time to myself," Ferham snapped. She had her weapons at hand, but was holding back on using them against a human.

It would be quelling a disruption, Scarface thought to himself. He stepped over to them and pushed the researcher back firmly. "If she says to leave her alone, she means it," he stated. "You ought to respect her wishes."

The man glared up at him. "What do you know about this?"

"I know that I can file a harassment report against you, outside the corporation," he responded. Filing one inside the corporation, he had the misfortune of finding out, did not do a thing to correct the problem.

But the threat of outside enforcement got the human to back off. "You two should be more careful," he said. "We control your careers and much of your lives." He then brushed past them to the elevator.

Ferham glared at him until he went, then softened her expression and turned to him. "Thank you, Scarface."

"Any time, Ferham," he replied. "But what's going on?"

"About what you saw and heard," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I had just managed to get Botos to stop pestering me when he picked up the harassment from where it had been left off. I really just want some quiet time to myself, but I doubt I'm going to find it around here."

He nodded. "Right. You could go spend time with Epsilon. He doesn't bother you, right?"

"Neither do you, really." She smiled at him. "I wish I could have been programmed like you instead. They don't expect me to say no. They don't ask you to do ridiculous things."

After checking to see if anyone else could be listening in, Scarface spoke quietly, "You can speak your mind more often then I can; you can insult others that deserve it. In some ways, I wish I could be more like you too."

That made her laugh and come a little closer. "Not too much, you don't want that. Trust me on it. I think I may go see Epsilon like you say. I can trust you both not to come on to me, and you seem to be working."

He shrugged. "More or less. But, could I ask a question of you first? Nothing like that."

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

He bowed his head. "Would it be better to stay loyal to a dishonorable master, or to change loyalty to one who would be honorable?"

"That's a dangerous question," she said, putting her hand to her chin. "But… I'm starting to think that it would be better to have the honorable master, or to follow a cause you truly believe in. Because if you keep following someone who doesn't believe in the same things you do, aren't you being dishonorable to yourself?"

"I hadn't thought of it that way." Scarface nodded. "Thank you. I seem to figure out things more clearly when I talk to you, or Epsilon."

"Me too. Funny how it works out that way, huh?" She smiled like she had some mischief in mind, then got up on her tiptoes and gave him a small kiss to his chin. "Are you going to drop by too?"

The kiss made him feel oddly flustered, and glad that his black mask covered up his face. "I, I might. But I couldn't…"

She put her finger to his lips. "That's what I like about you," she said. "I don't have to worry around you." She then stepped away, waving. "I'll see you later, then."

Smiling, he waved back. "Right, see you later."

* * *

 

Giga City was a place that dreams were made out of, to some. Opportunity was everywhere; fortunes were there to be made. New ideas, concepts and cultures were being accepted, as there were no old guard conservatives to deny change. Many came here to make themselves known.

He came here to keep hidden.

Anywhere else, he would have stood out too much. Steel Massimo was a huge reploid encased in thick battle armor. He was intimidating even before one saw his harsh eyes. Anywhere else, he could only get a military job, and the background check would condemn him instantly. Here in Giga City, they needed a lot of workers to keep up with their accelerating growth. He was able to get a job as a dock worker easily: moving cargo that was out of range of a loading crane and shifting large crates without the need of a forklift, that was it.

He even had his own apartment, down on the lower levels of Central Tower. True, most others didn't want it. But Massimo wouldn't complain. He knew what it was like to be a homeless reploid, on the move constantly. To have a refuge of his own, to have a job, to have people who didn't ask too many questions… he appreciated that.

Having a moment's break, Massimo looked to his two co-workers. There was the crane operator, also an immigrant humanoid reploid. He was looking to bigger and better jobs higher in the tower; to that end, he worked and flattered to get promoted. And there was a smaller cargo mover, an anthro bee. Yet another immigrant, she seemed to be looking for any improvement. She was highly optimistic and enthusiastic about it. With her cheerful personality, it was hard to imagine why she would have trouble finding a job better than this.

As for himself, he didn't care. He could stay here at this dock as a cargo worker and be satisfied with it. He was built for battle, yet he didn't want that anymore. If he stayed unknown, even with menial work, that was good.

There was just the question of if he deserved even this satisfaction.

* * *

 

Lagrano Tower was dark now. Quiet too. Ferham flew around outside, although snowflakes tumbled down alongside her, swirling behind her wings. The sharp bold air felt so good to her, deadening the heat of battle. And in the faint rays of moonlight trying to get through the cloud layer, she could see hints of the horizons. Freedom was wondrous. She could fly towards one of the shapes around her, like the forest district to the southeast or Central Tower just to the southwest. Or, she could go off to where there was nothing, just sky and sea, and see what was beyond the curve of the earth.

She spotted movement down below, on the rooftop observing platform of Lagrano Tower. It was white like the snowflakes, but larger, waving in the wind. That would be Scarface; a closer observation revealed his black form there, nearly blending into the night. His hair betrayed him, though.

On seeing her, he beckoned, pulling his hand inward. Come back.

Ferham closed her eyes briefly, letting the air hold onto her. Why should she go back? They had just gone to all this effort to escape this prison that they had been built in. She did not want to go back to the cramped halls and enclosed rooms, which had teasing windows of a forbidden outside. She could fly forever now, wherever she wished to go. Why should she go back? Lagrano Tower deserved to be abandoned, left as a monument to the ugly side of humanity.

And even the ugly side of some reploids.

But it was Scarface. He had no wings, nor any flight equipment. He could not fly to and past the horizons with her. If he was calling her back, she would go. The only other one she would do so for would be Epsilon. Epsilon could probably fly, or at least hover, if he put the effort into it. Still, he would suffer for it. Dr. Lagrano may have managed to reduce his pain significantly, to the point where Epsilon could lead a battle against the scientists, but she could see in his eyes that he still had to endure it constantly.

Flying back but not daring to set foot on that horrid place again, Ferham returned to Scarface. "What did you have to bother me for?" she said, but without any harshness.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked. He wasn't one for great speeches like Epsilon. Always so direct and succinct.

She put her hand to her cheek. "I don't know. I'm certainly not staying here. I was thinking, you know, of just taking off and going somewhere. The skies have always taunted me, but they welcome me now."

"I thought you'd say something like that."

"What about you?"

"I'm leaving with Epsilon. He plans on starting a revolution, something that will change the world forever. But you know him. He hasn't been able to physically practice for battle, and while he may have the power to make things happen, he doesn't have the ability to enforce it. I may know nothing compared to him, but I know how to fight. I will protect him and make his ideals into reality. He needs me. He needs you."

That startled her a little. "Me? But I wasn't made for a world of ideals, you know."

"You can change," Scarface said, getting up on the window shelf that had no glass. "You don't have to be what Dr. Lagrano's team made you to be. That is one of the things Epsilon wants to change, to make the world better for reploids like us."

"It might be better if there weren't reploids like us," she said sarcastically.

"And you fight as well as I do, if in different ways. Epsilon isn't going to change the world with just me by his side. He needs enough people to overcome the odds against us. He needs your power too. We need you." He paused, then held his hand out to her. "I need you. I don't know what it is to be without you. So please, don't fly away from me."

Ferham flew down closer to him. "Scarface…"

"Will you come with us?"

She nodded, taking his hand. The cold snowflakes swirled around them. "Yes, I will."

* * *

 

The mother followed her daughter into the little girl's bedroom. She needed a break from her home job and the girl had insisted on bringing her to a tea party. Still, she was amused to find a black haired reploid kneeling on the floor by the low child's table. It didn't help stifle her laughs in that he wore armor that looked much like a classy black suit. "Oh, did she invite you to the party too, Butler?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Lagrano. Although I figured Master Lagrano wouldn't like the idea of me playing pretend, so I offered to make young Miss Cindy some actual tea for her party."

Cindy plopped down in her chair, which was too small for either the adult human or the reploid. "Did you get jasmine tea, like you said?"

"Yes. I hope you don't mind, m'am."

Mrs. Lagrano sat on the floor by the table too. "That sounds good, actually. And don't mind what my stuffy husband would object to. He's not home, is he?"

"That's true," Butler said. "But we wouldn't want to risk him coming in on us. Here, Miss Cindy, I've got some honey to sweeten it, but I'd like to know how much you'd want."

"Um," she took a bit in her spoon and blew on it, to cool it down. Then she sipped it. "Lots of honey."

He chuckled. "All right." He didn't put in 'lots', but he gave her a fair amount.

"Do you have a name other than Butler?" Cindy asked out of the blue.

"No, I don't," he said, sounding surprised at the question. "That is what your father named me."

"But that's a silly name, isn't it? Cause that's just a job."

"He was made for this job, but it is rather simple," Mrs. Lagrano said.

"It doesn't bother me," Butler said. "Some reploids end up with utterly ridiculous names."

The little girl thought, then smiled at him. "Well then, I'm gonna have to come up with a cool name for you. I don't know what, but I'll make sure that it's awesome."

It was a little worrisome to think about being named by a five year old girl. But, it could be unique and she meant it out of kindness. "Thank you, Miss Cindy. I trust you to come up with something good then."

"It'll be great!"


	3. City of Dreams, part 3

She was right outside the garage door. She was a humanoid reploid of brown-violet hair, which seemed like it would be an awful color, but it was amazing on her. She had a small frame, but she was strong, enough to be a security officer. And she was witty, kind, with a lovely voice… but she probably only saw him as another person on her daily route about the district.

Michael spared a moment to look at her from his position under the jets of the speedboat he was working on, then went right back to work. He was on a schedule and this boat had to be returned to its owner tomorrow morning. And, well, he was just a vehicle mechanic. Not an engineer who could make computers do their bidding, or a repair doctor who could fix any injury on any robot that came in. Just a vehicle mechanic. It wasn't a glamorous job, not one that could attract a glamorous girl…

"Hey, Michael."

Oh shoot, had she really called his name? Michael shot upright, but banged his head into the jet casing, which caused him to lose his scanning tool, which clattered metallically on the concrete floor. He then scrambled to get out from under the boat, albeit ungracefully. "Uh, Joan? Sorry, what is it?"

She put her hand over her mouth. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to get you hurt. Have you seen the Whitman's boat around? It's been reported missing."

He shook his head. "No, not around my garage. But it should be pretty obvious. It's the bright yellow speedboat with the green trim, right?" A horrible eyesore in his opinion, but he would work on anything a customer paid for.

"That's the one. Well if you see or hear anything about it, call it in to security, all right? It seems to have gone missing."

A request from her? "Sure thing, I'll do that." She started to go, so he called out, "Oh, and have a good day, Joan!"

For a moment, she turned back and waved. "You too, Michael."

That absolutely made his day. But now, he had to make sure he hadn't accidentally dented the jet casing when he'd crashed into it.

* * *

 

The boat itself was a good one: quick, with good controls, and quiet. It was ugly and gaudy, though, with a bright yellow paint job and clashing green trim. Not only was it an eyesore, but it was far too distinctive. She would have to get it recolored and redecorated before she could actually use it. But then, that would cost much less then to get the same quality boat at a dealership.

Not that Marino would go out and buy a boat when she could just steal one. And unless the owner really had a thing for ugly boats, there would be less of a pursuit to get it back.

Slowing down, she looked over the sea platform she had pulled up to. There was a female there in brown and red armor, standing near a steel structure. Near her was a small white cannon mounted into a metal frame, which she was adjusting. But she did look up to see her. "Bringing in some more loot there?"

"Just the boat, Palei," she said, stepping onto the platform. "It needs some work before I do anything else."

"Right." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at her. "It was just the boat, then?"

Marino rolled her eyes. "Just this," she said. "I am sticking to only taking important things. So what've you got rigged up now?" She came over to the cannon brace, as it seemed to be. The weapon itself was hooked up to its own generator in a rectangular box. It seemed unusual for the size of the barrel, which was formed more for use as a personal weapon. But personal weapons usually hooked into a reploid's power core, not a separate generator.

"Oh, it's a little something special," Palei said, glancing back at her weapon. "I'm not sure I'll actually have this for its intended use, so I will have to adjust it for someone else. But I'd have to give it to someone I really trusted." She smirked. "I trust you, but not quite that much."

She laughed. "It's probably safer that way. Oh, and about the Lagrano reploids… they're building up steam. I think they're being serious about striking out."

That caused her to pause. "I see… that's worrisome. I should make sure that we can go under the radar at a moment's notice. You too; we don't want you falling victim to force metals again."

Hmm… that was one issue that she was serious about. Marino nodded. "Of course not. I know to resist that temptation now."

Then Palei smiled impishly. "But let's see how my little weapon here works first. I had this designed months ago, but only got the materials just now. If I could put together the full system, it would be amazing."

"I'm game for that," Marino said. Maybe if she worked harder, Palei might trust her with something like this in the future.

* * *

 

Things were not looking good. Professor Gaudile worked in his office, scanning over reports of what was going on in other parts of Giga City. The big news was about Epsilon, the experimental reploid that had led a rebellion against his creators, leading to the downfall of the famous (and infamous) Lagrano Electronics Labs. Now Epsilon and his followers had declared that they were taking over the entirety of Giga City, driving out all the humans to set up a reploid only city state. While they couldn't yet be proven Mavericks, the Rebellion was already stirring up controversy.

This would not turn out well.

However, most people didn't see it that way. They weren't looking at history, which said that evicting humans to make a reploid country was not taken well. They weren't looking at science, which showed that the force metals they were promoting were dangerous if not handled properly. Sometimes they weren't even looking at common sense, which said that no one gave out power like that without wanting something in exchange.

And their propaganda was unbelievable. It looked good, all right, and the common person might be tempted by it. But when looked at closer, there were so many problems and hypocrisies. They espoused ideals of peace, equality, personal growth, and freedom. But they spoke of war, Darwinism, and devotion to a single leader whom, if Lagrano's track record was anything to go by, potentially a dangerous and unbalanced reploid. Of course, Gaudile had been made in Lagrano Labs too, so he wasn't really one to talk. Then again, he liked to think that he had been made before things got terrible. And left before it got downright corrupted.

At any rate, a conflict was sure to arise and he wanted nothing to do with it. He had once been made to design and build weapons, but had been horrified to reason out the consequences of such aims. So he had left in hopes of doing good instead of harm.

Gaudile checked through his lab's defenses. While the lab was in a relatively remote location, the teleport grid could reach certain points. He could safely knock that down to just one, but turning off that last would invite a police search, as a hint that he might be doing something illegal. Which he wasn't. He owned this facility fully and it was perfectly within his rights to defend it. But the last thing any reploid wanted was to be falsely accused of being a Maverick.

Okay, maybe the second to last thing. Being turned into an actual Maverick would be a nightmare.

A door opened, letting in a reploid that appeared to be a young teenaged girl. "Professor, look at this," she said happily.

What he was doing was important… but not as important as his daughter. He turned from his computer. "Oh, hello Cinnamon. What do you have?"

She knelt down and held out a small mechaniloid. It had a very flat body, like cardboard, and clear glossy dragonfly wings. "I saw a bunch of these in the Great Trunk room today, and I made friends with this one. See? It let me carry it all the way here."

He smiled. "Yes, that's impressive. This is a Pararoid, a special mechaniloid that you'll only find here in Giga City. When they find fragments of force metals too small or too weak to use normally, they make a Pararoid out of it. See here, you can see its core fragment right there behind its eyes."

"Oh yes, I thought that's what it was." She brought it closer to her face, getting it to twitch its wings.

"They're based on dragonflies, which is an insect that looks like this," he went on. "But you'll only find dragonflies in certain wilderness reserves."

"I see. Can I keep this one for a little while?"

"Sure. Just be careful; they can't do much other than fly, but they are programmed to use up their fragment to empower another individual, whether mechaniloid or reploid. But that destroys the Pararoid."

"Aw, that's sad. I'll keep him safe." She got up to look for a box to put it in.

There could still be good in this world, Gaudile thought. But you had to watch innocents like Cinnamon carefully. You had to make sure that they kept their sense of wonder and love.

* * *

 

For the first time, Giga City was losing residents. And it was losing them rapidly. Many of the humans were packing up, leaving by zeppelins and other large aircraft. Epsilon had made a grand announcement that his group, the Rebellion, was taking over the city and evicting all human residents. And a good number of them were listening, packing up their things and going.

But not nearly enough. Many were staying behind, defiant of the reploid group. The coup was illegal, they said, and this new Rebellion would be crushed. Others had made their fortunes here and were unwilling to let it all go. Especially defiant were the residents of the Freesia District suburb of Wavebreaker, where the wealthiest and most politically powerful citizens of Giga City lived. They were all humans, of course. Even in a liberal area like this, the reploids were kept from becoming too influential.

Botos hovered along the streets, observing how things were going. One teenaged boy had the nerve to cuss at him, shouting insults about being a flying barrel. After flipping him off, Botos kept going. It wasn't worth it to respond further to that childish display. At least, not to the boy's face. He kept going until he got to the gathering of Rebellion reploids who were supposed to be enforcing the evacuation effort.

"Anybody have any luck?" he asked, although he already knew the answers.

"Those vermin aren't budging," Wild Jango sneered. "They're treating us like a joke. How the hell does Epsilon expect us to enforce these orders when we can't lay a finger on them?"

"Any who would leave has already left," Incentas added. "We're wasting our time with this nonviolent nonsense."

Others added their own complaints and impatience. Pleased by this (as it furthered his interests), Botos shifted his head to nod. "True, and we may not have much time left. I've recently intercepted an interesting message. A squad of Maverick Hunters is expected to be here shortly, in order to stop the evacuation effort."

"Them?" Jango hissed, amidst groans from the others.

"As demeaning and irritating as this is," Incentas said.

"And boring as cardboard," Silver Horn interrupted.

"We haven't done anything to get them to intervene," the strange energy wielder continued. "Epsilon has been adamant about that."

"Why yes, he has been stubborn," Botos said brightly. "What was it now? He told us to not attack unless we were attacked first. Well the humans aren't listening to us. We could call that an attack on our authority and pride, right?"

Several of the other members started to grin as they saw his reasoning. "That is an attack as harmful as any other," Dr. Psyche said.

Botos put his hand to his chest. "And the Maverick Hunters will use violence against us; they would be like that. Psyche, the zeppelin that is here, it could carry all the humans away, right?"

"They would be quite crowded, but yes, it could," he answered.

"Well then I see no reason why we couldn't give the humans a stronger incentive to leave. Epsilon might not like that, but I'm sure you'll agree that if he doesn't want to hear about it, we don't have to tell him all of the details. If there's any particular corrupted disgusting vermin of a human hanging about still, say like Dr. Lagrano,"

A number of his audience chuckled. Oh, they were loving this plan.

"Well such corruptions could be dealt with strongly," Botos stated. "But, leave the Hunters to me. I have a little plan that might lure them over to our side instead. If not, we can eliminate them. In self-defense, of course."

"Of course," Incentas said, flexing his six hands. "Let's go encourage these stubborn humans to get off their lazy rears and move."

* * *

 

Force metals were alluring things, he reflected. They came in a wide variety of powers, so one could actually customize oneself without the need for expensive operations. One metal could cover a weakness, while another could boost a strength. Sure, there were records of nasty side-effects if one was overloaded with metals. But there was a kind of buffer zone just past a reploid's limits where only minor effects happened. If he kept pushing that limit by keeping right in the buffer zone, then he might be able to build his resistance to that power faster.

That was the theory, anyhow.

Now wasn't the time to be testing that. Not only was there not enough time, but the situation was mildly hostile. Mach Jentra was with his squad mate Sineswiper, overseeing the evacuation of humans from Central Tower. It wasn't that hard of a job. After the deaths in Wavebreaker, most of the remaining human residents of Giga City were more open to leaving. Most. Some had gotten more outspoken, like the Governor. Someone else was supposed to be taking care of that individual, while the two of them were at the human living area supervising things. But things might get stirred up, so he kept his force metal count to a reasonable limit. Still, he had a deep feeling of wanting more.

"It's a total waste, I tell you," Sineswiper said, his green wings humming as usual. "They've got highly trained and qualified new recruits in us, and what did they send us to do? Just stand here and make sure that people comply with orders."

"They could at least give us appropriate jobs," the third reploid with them said. Orwell was obviously a nautical model, formed to look and be like an orca, but bipedal and not as large. "Luna and I can't work efficiently on land."

"You wouldn't have much to do in the ocean," the hummingbird reploid commented.

"Patience," Jentra said to the other two. "They probably don't trust us quite yet, so they'll be testing us out to see if we will stick with them."

"That's what you said about being in the Maverick Hunters," Sineswiper retorted. "And we never advanced anywhere past a certain point."

He glowered at him. "I may have been wrong there, but I'm putting together a plan for this turn of events."

"You two were in the Hunters?" the third asked, surprised and a bit awed. "Why'd you switch over to the Rebellion then?"

"We were convinced that it'd be a better opportunity," Sineswiper said, rolling his eyes. "I didn't expect to get stuck with guard duty."

Jentra crossed his arms over his chest and drew his wings in. "It was a good time to jump ship anyhow. Redips had it out for us, I'm certain. I don't think he was kidding about the tribunal."

"He's such a jerk," the hummingbird added. "Sure, it looks like he's playing by the rules, but he must be getting away with something. And since he has to pander to management and the legends to do so, they don't believe the complaints of the lower workers. I swear, I was this close to cycloning his office just to mess with him."

"Who're you talking about?" Orwell asked, clenching his trident weapon as another group of humans walked by on route to the dock. "I haven't heard of him."

"He's the main strategist of the Tokyo base," Jentra said. The humans weren't doing anything suspicious, so he watched the reploids. There were two in the group, including one that looked remarkably like a little girl in a green dress. "You don't hear about those folks often, but he makes goals, plans out missions, gives out orders. He's the one who sent us here to deal with the Rebellion's actions in Wavebreaker. May have been the only good thing he's done for us."

"Amen to that," Sineswiper grumbled.

"I think I see your point. What'd you do to annoy him?"

"We have no idea."

Jentra shrugged. "Right. Although, there were a few of us in our squad who weren't that interested in humans. Not that we hate them or would want to see them all disappear."

"Right," Sineswiper said, nodding. "They're just kind of there and we've got no particular reason to defend them from anything. One time our group made certain of the safety of some civilian reploids, but lost some of the humans. Oh, we caught holy hell over that, even though the reploids we saved could get us through to the big cheese of that area while the humans wouldn't have been able to help us in any way."

Waving his hand towards the leaving group, which included some human children, Jentra added, "And they breed so easily and cheaply. I don't see a point in worrying about the loss of a few of them. But there aren't many of us around, nowhere near their numbers still, and it takes quite a bit more time, skill, and resources to produce new reploids. That would make us more valuable than them in a sense."

Orwell nodded. "Yeah, but that's the kind of thing you don't want to be overheard talking about. In normal society. I suppose it doesn't matter now."

"Right," Jentra said. "The things we're expected to do even when they don't make sense."

The orca reploid sniffed. "It's like how they keep asking us oceanic workers when we'll have a stable population of marine life back. And not because they see it as valuable for itself. No, they want commercial and sport fishing to be made legal again. They're ultimately responsible for a lot of the currently extinct species, and they can eat just about anything. They should just leave the ocean life alone until things are back where they should be."

"They'll just keep bugging you about it," Sineswiper said.

Without warning, a commotion came from the hall to the dock. On hearing the gunfire, Jentra kicked himself into battle mode and flew for the hall, followed immediately by Sineswiper and a bit slower by Orwell. There were some Preons at the end of the air dock's hallway that were firing on the group, leading many of them to scream or try to protect loved ones (like the reploid woman taking hold of the child-like reploid). Using one of his new force metals, Jentra silently called for the Preons to stop. "What's going on here?" he demanded.

The refugee group looked too frightened to say anything, but one Preon answered with, "We are under strict orders to evacuate humans. No reploids."

"Fine," Jentra said, annoyed at the interruption. He waved to the two females. "Get back in here, you two."

"We don't want to stay around here," the woman said, watching him with as much fright as the humans.

"Too bad," Sineswiper said tauntingly. "You should have left earlier and taken them with you. They aren't going to let them through with you two, and we aren't going to let them stay."

"We're leaving," she said, trying to be brave by pulling out a gun.

That was a mistake, as the two former Hunters reacted immediately, Jentra by calling forth a flame to strike her from underneath and Sineswiper by throwing a cyclone boomerang. The rush of wind coming off the boomerang caused the flames to flare out wider than usual, sending them into the crowd of injured humans. Reacting oddly, the woman shoved the girl reploid away from her, causing her to stumble onto her back near the wall. While it got the child-like out of the attack, the woman got hit directly with both, and the jet stream blast that came from Orwell as he tried to keep up with the other two. There was more panicking and screaming as those who could ran to get past the Preons and out of the hall.

"Mommy!" the girl reploid cried, scared witless and trying to get up to get to the woman.

Sounds from behind told Jentra that there was a danger back there: hover jets and the hum of a plasma blade. He turned in time to see a reploid in massive brown armor cut right through Orwell from head to feet in one slice. That warrior had bestial eyes and a booming voice. "You should have let them go," he said sternly.

In the small (and short) spaces of this hall, Jentra wasn't looking forward to fighting someone like this. "That's not our decision to make," he stated, covering up his reluctance. But he did quietly communicate to Sineswiper, " _Get us out of here."_

" _Roger,"_ the hummingbird said, sending a special cyclone at the large reploid to confuse him. In that moment they had, the two rushed past him out of the hall and into a side room they had scouted out earlier. "We could take him on in a larger room," Sineswiper said quietly.

"No," Jentra said, hearing the Preons shooting again. "We weren't told that we'd be fighting anybody like him and can claim lack of information as reason enough to avoid battle. Besides, that should have been the last group. Once the zeppelin takes off, we can leave."

"Good; I don't want to get smashed up."

They watched as the girl in the green dress armor ran back out of the hall. She stopped partway in, tense and likely looking for them. Once the large reploid came back into the room, she went right to him and stayed nearby as he brought her back into the main halls of Central Tower.

"How pathetic," Jentra mumbled.

"What about?" Sineswiper asked, puzzled.

He pointed out the direction they had gone. "That must be an actual child reploid, one built specifically to be immature and ignorant. I had heard discussion of such models, but I didn't think anyone was actually sentimental enough to do it. She isn't ready for independent operation, just made so that the woman can pretend at being a mother. While it is a fascinating mental exercise to debate on how to structure a proper learning program, it's irresponsible to waste resources on a dependent."

Snorting, the hummingbird tapped his long beak. "You think pet mechaniloids are a waste of resources."

"They are unless they're actually functional for something," he replied.

* * *

 

"Please?"

"No."

Zero tilted his head, hearing the voices. They were both familiar, and one was the one he was looking for. What were they arguing about, though? If they were arguing. It didn't sound that tense.

"Please?" was said with a bit of pleading, yet not whiny. But it would get irritating.

"No," was said with stoic calmness, from someone who wouldn't be ruffled.

As it didn't sound too combative, Zero stepped into the room. It was an engineering lab. Two pairs of eyes snapped to see who was coming in, but relaxed on seeing who it was. X turned his eyes back to a screen, watching something; his hands worked nimbly with a stylus and drawing pad. In contrast, Axl smiled and waved, but then turned back to look at X.

"Please?" Axl asked.

"No," X replied.

Zero looked around the lab room. It didn't look like anything was being built or worked on here. All the tools were put away, with new organizational labels on every drawer and box. Much of the monitoring equipment was turned off, leaving only security devices. There was the design computer that X was working at. And what he had on the screen was the start of a reploid, at least the outer design of one. Possibly inner design too, if the numerous links on the drawing were any clue.

"Please?"

"No. Is there something you need Zero?"

There was… but he crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, no, carry on. I was enthralled by your thoughtful conversation." When Axl laughed, he added, "What are you asking about?"

"It's…" he paused, his mouth open. "Uh, actually, I forget."

"That's what I figured," X said, the corner of his lips turning up.

Axl smiled sheepishly. "I was just seeing how long he would keep that up."

Zero shook his head. "You're dealing with a mind like diamond; you're not going to irritate him as easily as when you initially met him. What was he asking about?"

"He wants to borrow the form of the reploid I'm designing," X said. "He started asking over half an hour ago."

"Oh right! Cause this guy on the screen would be an artillery expert. At first I told him that you'd think he was getting all geeky over guns again, but then I saw that it would be a really awesome form to have."

"It's going to be a while before I can even start physical work on this one, if I do," X pointed out. "I don't mind you two knowing about it, but I don't want news of this work to get far."

Although he didn't say it, Zero knew that it was because X didn't want one of his enemies pirating his designs. "Things must be getting better if you're finding time to do non-priority engineering work again."

"Yes, it's good. But what have you come here for?"

"To pull you away from this. Sorry." He waited until X put down the stylus and turned to him. "Axl, if you don't mind…"

"Oh, right," he said, getting up. "I've got to be going, actually. I have some hours to look into those tips I have about Giga City."

"Good luck with that," X said, waving to him. "And about what you were saying before you got distracted, you can go with your plan if you want; just expect some potential arguments from Redips if you do."

"Yeah." The younger reploid rolled his eyes. "Sorry, but that guy is no Signas. I'll see you two later." He left the room.

"That's about how I feel about this," Zero added after Axl was gone.

"He's fairly new still," X said. "But with all the work we've picked up, we needed another lead strategist. And…?"

He nodded. "There's a new mission in the works and we could be leaving within the day. We; both of us will be sent in."

There was a moment of serious worry from X. And it wasn't without precedent. "Both of us? We haven't been sent on the same mission for a long time, not since the large-scale Maverick conflicts. Is it…?"

"No," Zero said quickly. "I can understand Redips' reasoning, although it still makes me wary. He should have sent us the mission data files by now, although you hadn't checked your in-mail account yet. I know the basics of it, but something doesn't seem right. It's the Giga City conflict."

"I see, the issue with the Rebellion. I heard that we lost two squads to them, so they would want to send in a strong fighter whose loyalty won't come under question."

"And they also need a diplomat to deal with the civilian reploids and what authority they may have outside of the criminals. I told him that he could just send you, as you can handle both ends readily, but he said that we'd better err on the side of caution." In other words, Redips didn't fully appreciate X's ability, which irritated Zero. His friend could likely solve the whole conflict single-handedly; sending him in too would be overkill.

"I'd have to review the data myself to make a judgment of that. And having you along could help me focus on work with the civilians better."

"I still don't like it," Zero said. "I have this gut feeling that something's not right with this. Maybe it'll be explained in the official mission statements.

X smiled a little. "Heh, you not liking a potential combat mission? That doesn't happen much." Then he lost that smile. "Of course, when it does happen, you tend to be right."

"You aren't too comfortable with this either," he pointed out. "Not just this mission either. Some of the recent changes too."

"I'm still looking into things," he said, seeming calm. But Zero knew that was seeming, and that he was disguising suspicions. "Some of the changes have been for the better. And yet, I hope that we haven't missed a mistake somewhere."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note that I found the name 'Sineswiper' on a message board years ago and liked it enough to use here. I didn't have much contact with that person, but I hope they don't mind.


	4. Infiltrate Giga City! Part 1

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. While reading over the mission files, X couldn't help but think on that old adage. A new power had come into play for reploids, as well as a new technology for the humans to research. This power didn't fit the usual models and had great potential. In studying this power, people grew careless, then reckless. Now many were suffering as a result and a small-scale war was threatening to break out. While it may only affect one city now, greed spread quickly, as did violence. And for the people of that city, it would affect every part of their lives.

Skimming the files again, X looked over the big picture. Over three decades ago, a large meteor had been on a collision course with Earth. Humans and reploids had worked together to form an immense shaft of energy fields, anti-grav generators, and other technologies to cushion its fall, dropping it into the ocean with little effect on the planet. It had been hailed as a triumph of science and cooperation.

And then something special had been discovered within that meteor. It was filled with unusual metal alloys sprinkled with tiny mineral crystals. When these metals were linked into the power system of a reploid, that individual was granted intriguing powers. Energy was processed more efficiently; he or she became stronger, faster, luckier, tougher, or dozens of other effects. Named force metals, they held great promise for the development of better reploids.

The force metals weren't without dangers, although it took time to notice them. If a reploid attached one of the more powerful metals, or too many overall, their systems became destabilized. They would get fatigued faster or become disoriented. In the worst cases, the individual suffered programming damage, leading to crippling handicaps that could not be overcome normally. Or they could even become insane. The latter behaved dangerously close to the Maverick reploids who had been infected with the Sigma virus.

Feeling a pang at that thought, X knew that he did not want to see something like the old wars start up all over again. Scientists and programmers were getting a lot better at creating reploids that were resistant to the Sigma virus and any variations of it. That didn't always help with force metal sickness, though. As the behaviors were similar, the Earth Federation had declared that such reploids would be labeled as Mavericks, and treated as such.

That was the reason behind this mission. The site of the meteorite crash became Giga City, the center of force metal research and development. Initially, it was powerful humans who moved in, bringing their servant reploids along with them. Then others came in: young human researchers hoping to make a name for themselves, less fortunate reploids seeking their fortunes, low-life criminals who were seeking power to fulfill their ambitions, and more beyond that. The city grew at an astonishing rate even for this age; it started hosting other research and other sub-cultures. However, that fast growth led to lawlessness.

A group of reploids that were former research subjects had joined forces to create what was called the Rebellion. Led by a mysterious reploid called Epsilon, it started as pure propaganda, advocating turning Giga City into a reploid-only community. Then their actions turned dangerous: starting riots, destroying the human residential areas, taking over many facilities of Giga City, then most recently, killing off fifty-three humans and nineteen reploids who were related to or friends of the main powers behind the city. The Maverick Hunters responded by sending in several skilled protection squads to quell the violence.

They had all deserted or been killed within three days of starting their mission. With the Federation affirming that Epsilon and his followers were all to be branded Mavericks, the Maverick Hunters decided that they weren't going to mess around. Their two most experienced members, X himself and his best friend Zero, were to lead a small strike force into the city to eliminate the Rebellion members and take back control of the city. They were leaving within the hour.

Deciding it was time to buckle down and do this, X shut down his computer. After taking a pair of objects out, he locked a couple of drawers on his desk. His office was tidy, more so than usual. It didn't matter how much experience he had; this sort of mission always made X nervous and he would organize things to settle his thoughts. If they could avoid taking the life of anyone, he would prefer that. But the Rebellion could not be ignored. They may say they just wanted the city, but their actions hinted that they would bring their war to the rest of the world in time.

He stepped into a maintenance pod to change out of his regular clothes and into his armor. Unfortunately, the Maverick Hunters had few force metals, and only one would be given for this mission. Their opponents would have access to many kinds of metals. They would have to rely on their own equipment and experience to pull this one off. Then again, that was an advantage to this squad: none of the members were reliant on force metals to do their jobs and could be trusted not to be tempted by such power. The one metal they were taking would help cover a weak point in the squad.

When the pod opened back up, he saw Zero leaning on the door frame of his office. He almost never took off his red armor, but small signs like the way he held his right hand (indicating that he had a bladed weapon stored in his wrist slot) showed that he was ready for battle. The blond Hunter gave a nod as a greeting. "You ready yet?"

"Getting there," X said, taking some items out of the cabinets and installing or storing them within his armor. "I'm sure I don't have to ask you that."

"I've been ready," he affirmed. "This looks to be interesting. Asking five of us to infiltrate a city of millions? I know we're good, but that good?"

X smiled some. "You sound eager for the challenge. Changed your mind?"

Zero grinned back. "You've got that right. Not on everything, but this mission could be one to remember."

Mentally going over his preparedness, X kept talking. It was things that were obvious, but he always felt reassured that they weren't missing anything obvious by doing so. "It may be a city of millions, but most of those millions are citizens unconnected to the Rebellion faction. We don't want to stir things up too much, like the initial squads did. They suffered for it. At the same time, we want to make a precision strike and only take out the troublemakers. The less collateral damage, the better."

Although Zero didn't react outwardly, X knew he was paying attention. From him, sticking around meant he cared enough to let X ramble. "Cutting to the point, eh? Works for me. I looked over the squad list; got some good people with us."

"Right. There's also the fact that the city had 'millions' before this all started. I think the number is still high, but it's probably more like hundreds of thousands of residents now. Just saying." X locked his cabinets, then put his digital key in his pocket. A few others he trusted had access to his office, but he always kept that key on him. There was one decision left to make: he needed a back-up weapon in case he was caught in a close-quarters battle. He did have that Hyper form, but just to be safe, he looked back over what he had taken out of his desk. Tossing one to Zero, he said, "Here, I want to see what you think of this."

He caught it easily, then turned it about in his hand. "That's light; it can't have much heft with this handle." He glanced over. "You still have that old one of mine?"

Nodding, X decided to put the Z-saber in with his equipment. "It still works. That's one I made to try out something. It's based off a rapier."

He frowned. "Rapier's a civilian weapon, although if you're insistent on duels of honor…" Zero activated the Z-rapier, getting a thin green blade. The end point was brighter than the rest. "Which kind of rapier is it supposed to be? Cut and thrust or just thrust? Sharp both edges, from center to point, or edgeless?"

X shook his head. "I couldn't get the shaping mechanism to do edgeless, so it's cut and thrust. Focusing it that thin does concentrate the force. But yes, the lightweight handle cuts into its potential power."

"It's going to have a hellishly short swing time at this weight. Could make it more difficult to wield than it looks." Zero shut it off. "I'll fight with it a bit, although not right off."

"That's fine. All right, I'm done. Let's go to the meeting place."

* * *

 

The Melda District was cold, kept that way through environmental shields. Snowflakes spattered against Axl's helmet as he guided a hoverbike to the platform that carried the buildings on top of the water. Sounds of machinery filled the background, covering the slight sound of his vehicle. He stopped the bike in a place where it would be hard to see, slowly stood up in the seat, and peered over the landscape.

Although this place could work without humans, there was a lower level of activity than expected. A pair of wolfoids was patrolling around. Overhead, some bat robots flew by. And a mining mechaniloid, called a Degraver, was checking over some large containers just in front of him. That seemed odd. Axl hadn't heard that mining was done actively in this part of the district. So what was the Degraver doing here?

At any rate… he discounted the bats; they were too small. The wolfoids would work nicely, as they blended into the snowy area. But there was a pair, and he had to move quickly. That left the Degraver, once the wolfoids moved further on. Axl climbed onto the ground level and started creeping towards the mechaniloid. Watching and listening to how the Degraver used the machinery, he timed a shift to his pistols so that the sound was covered. Adding the silencers would be nice. Hopefully the bats wouldn't betray him in this darkness.

The Degraver dropped down to check on some lower gauges. Axl struck then, quickly dispatching the mechaniloid. Right as it deactivated, he made a quick connection to it to copy its DNA. But that wouldn't be enough. Reviewing the information he had, he brought out a small plasma tool to cut into the Degraver's body. He was after a particular part, the identification chip. It would have a lot of information that would be useful to him.

On acquiring the chip, Axl checked his surroundings again. Nothing had come alert to him yet. But there wasn't a dumpster nearby, and dumping the mechaniloid's body in the ocean might get attention. So he shifted into the new Degraver form, activating the ID chip. It gave him some transmission frequencies that this mechaniloid would typically listen to, so he opened them in case of orders. Then he used the pick tool to dig out a hole in the snow. In a few minutes, he had the Degraver buried there, under more snow. The other mechaniloid residents would likely notice this in time. But if it gave him enough time to work, that would be good.

He used to not like such slow and cautious tactics. He supposed that working with X and Zero over the years had taught him to appreciate these ways. In the past, he wouldn't be satisfied unless he blasted some criminal. Now, he saw how it could be just as rewarding to get in, grab what he came for, and leave without ever being noticed. All he needed now was some information and this way would work better than running in with guns ablaze. And to think that the lead strategist Redips had advised that he should not use his chameleon abilities.

Then a transmission came from the local network. "All mechaniloids save for active patrollers, report to Dock 12."

The ID chip he had informed him that Dock 12 was nearby. Staying in Degraver form, Axl headed that way. He didn't want to be caught as a 'malfunctioning mechaniloid'.

* * *

 

In his bunkroom, Wedge was doing an equipment check. His armor was in excellent condition, having recently come back from maintenance. His weapons, a standard burst gun, a large fan-shaped V-Blade, and a thinner R-Blade, were all functioning efficiently. With that, he had some packets of repair nanities, a Swiss Army knife (even in this day and age, the things were immensely useful), and other items he felt would be needed. This could be a long mission and it wasn't certain when they'd get back to this main base.

He didn't seem remarkable on the surface, looking like a generic soldier model. His armor was a dull brown and red; his hair and eyes were both common browns too. Due to the fact that his creator had been an independent engineer, there hadn't been the funds available to make him or his brother unique looking. But they were unique below the surface.

Like the Gemini processors. That technology linked a pair of twin reploids together so that they could work extremely efficiently together, like they were sharing the same mind. Some Geminis really seemed to be single-minded. But Wedge and Biggs, they were designed to be highly independent of each other while keeping the Gemini mental link. They were highly capable on their own while being a natural pair that complimented each others powers.

There was no further reason to stall, so Wedge left the bunkroom and headed for the nearby booth where Unit 17's current secretary worked. Alia was there, taking a shift from her usual duties. She smiled at him. "Good evening, Wedge. Heading out soon?"

Smiling back at her, he nodded. "Evening Alia. Did my brother pick up the force metal?"

"No, he didn't. Hold on a moment." She got up and went to unlock a cabinet beside her.

Hearing a door shutting nearby, he looked down the hall to see X and Zero coming his way. Fortunately, X wasn't strict on formalities within Unit 17's quarters. "Good evening, X, Zero," Wedge called over.

"Good evening," X replied. Zero just nodded. "You ready to go?"

"Yes sir. My brother is already out preparing to bring us in."

"Good."

"Oh, good thing you're here, X," Alia said, bringing out a small plastic box. "I need you to sign out this Protect 20, and Wedge, if you'd do so for your brother."

"Sure thing." He took the stylus and gave his signature on the acquisition line. Then he handed it to X for the commander's signature. Wedge took the metal's box; it was a potent metal, significantly boosting defense against both shot-type and combat-type damage. For this mission, it had to go to their support member, Wedge's brother Biggs. He needed it most, and they needed him.

"Okay, good luck on your mission," Alia said, waving them goodbye. "I'll take care of unit quarters while you're gone."

"Good, I trust you in that," X replied, waving back. He started talking to Zero again, so Wedge fell in step behind them.

Wedge knew that his position was a prestigious one and he was proud of it. And this mission seemed to be one of the tricky ones, yet important enough that they had to send both X and Zero on it. He and his twin were there primarily as support, whether in scanning or in battle. But X was one of the most amazing reploids in the world, a great hero. They wouldn't want to disappoint him while under his command.

The brothers would just have to do as they always do: do things right and do them well.

* * *

 

Axl was glad to note that he wasn't the only Degraver that had reported in. He was standing with six, and a seventh was trudging in. Making note of their actions, he shifted his arms and twisted his waist. It seemed that they didn't like the cold either and were moving in small ways because of that. There were a lot of the bats, though, along with some rabbids and the wolfoids.

He was concerned about the ones who called him. These were members of the Rebellion. As soon as he had arrived, he recognized both Mach Jentra and Sineswiper. They were two members of the Hunter squads that had disappeared in Giga City, apparently by defecting. That was confirmed by the presence of Incentas and Wild Jango, two known members of the Rebellion.

Still, it would look suspicious if he left now, and more dangerous if he broke cover. Axl stayed there, mimicking the other Degravers to blend in.

"Any sign of the Hunter?" Jango asked a generic securities robot that came up. Axl felt glad that these Degravers had stiff faces; they couldn't tell that he was on high alert.

The securities robot shook his head. "Negative, sir. No suspicious activity has occurred yet."

"That can be suspicious by itself," Incentas said warily. "Axl is supposed to be on the way, or nearly here."

"We can only scan out to the seas so far, sir."

"Well get back to your work so that we don't miss him," Jango snapped.

Axl felt pleased in that he had been making the right choices with this, everything from the special low-key bike to taking the form of a mechaniloid. Still, this meant that it might be better to leave the scene. Even if that meant putting off his personal quest, they had known that he was coming. He had to let others back at base know of that.

Another generic worker was checking over the mechaniloids. Axl kept quiet and cooperative as he was searched. The mechanic did not show any concern. After the other Degravers were done, the mechanic went to Incentas. "Sir, these bots all check out. The Degravers aren't too comfortable, though."

"Well they have to make due, like the rest of us," the strange spherical reploid said. "Jentra, if you will."

"They're not Preons," he grumbled. But then the falcon reploid brought his hand up to them. Axl noted a master signal coming from him. This one commanded mechaniloids. "All right, bots, you need to be aware of our plans. We're luring the Maverick Hunter Axl into a trap, where we plan to overwhelm him in numbers and power to destroy him. You may continue your duties if need be, but we will call you to battle when he arrives. A few of you will be sent as lures to get him to the ambush location, where we will all attack him. He is a dangerous foe, but keep your attack commands low-priority until I call you to full attention. That is all you need to know."

"That is all they can comprehend," Incentas joked.

Jentra gave him a glare, but didn't say anything.

To the Degravers, his 'continue your duties if need be' command meant for them to drift back to where they had been, to check on machinery. Axl walked off like the rest of them, back to where the body of the one he had killed was. After making sure that it was still buried and that no other bots were watching, he changed back, dropped onto his bike, and took off. Due to the interference, he would have to drive a distance before he could request a teleport back to base. But he would take that shortcut this time.

* * *

 

The outdoor ninety-fifth floor courtyard of the Maverick Hunter Headquarters doubled as a helicopter landing pad, so it was primarily a large open concrete space on the south side of the building. By some long flower beds at the edge, a support reploid had a silver suitcase opened on his lap. Inside was his external computer; hooking that up to his own systems gave him a highly precise and detailed overview of anywhere in the world, with minimal time delay. Biggs noted the door opening to let out the strategic commander Redips. However, his main focus remained far away, within Giga City itself.

That city was not like the place where he was, Tokyo. The latter was one solid whole, a nocturnal landscape of bright spots of light and tall columns of darkness. The former was spread out, a number of various towers soaring far above the ocean and diving far below it, all the way down to the special meteor itself. As such, moving in the city could mean moving across and under the waters.

In the ocean, Biggs had control of three crab-beetle mechaniloids. They looked unremarkable, like other beetle mechaniloids around the city, or around the world. They were swimming for an abandoned part of the city, a place called Lagrano Tower. While there was a ramp for sea-bound vessels, that location was still lit by a strong spotlight. Instead, he guided his beetles up and over the surface platform of the tower, where it was darker.

There, it was raining hard. It was night as well, leaving standard visibility low and dark. There was a large amount of interference, forcing him to use more power than usual to get a decent picture. However, he could interpret many other methods of sensing along with sight. With that, he could tell that the tower was damaged. Some of it seemed violent, like smashed glass, plasma scorched metal, and battered concrete. But it was all old violence. Lagrano was eerily still in the driving rain.

What was there? There was a pier with a roof, which housed a single boat. Was there someone here, or was it abandoned? Given the level of algae clinging to the bottom, the boat was probably abandoned. The platform base of this island was large, but there were only two enclosed structures: the tower and a warehouse. And half of the warehouse had collapsed. When he sent a beetle to peer inside, there was nothing notable there.

After some time, he found a spot on a path that fit the requirements. The nearest pathway light was malfunctioning, but the area was clear enough for the group. There was some interference, but not enough to cause them trouble. Ordering his beetles to stop, he set up a signal between them and HQ. Normal teleport signals were simple to set up. Not this one. It had to be stealth, and it had to be an absolute fine stealth to be even adequate. He set it up so it could be mistaken for a more common watch query, a civilian gazing through satellite cameras to see foreign locales. Given past patterns of the Rebellion takeover, the query would be denied. But it would give them time to teleport.

"Biggs, we're all gathered," Redips said, getting his attention. "Are you ready?"

He shut the computer's case, although he left himself connected to it. "Yes sir, we can 'port at any time." To keep it safe, Biggs clamped the suitcase to a slot on the right of his lower back. Seeing his brother Wedge there, he grinned and got one in return. They were both part of Unit 17, under the command of X. Also represented were Unit 0 (which consisted solely of Zero) and Unit 27. Giga City native Shadow was from the last unit, being the local guide of the group. The only other Hunter who could act in that position would have been Depth Dragoon, Shadow's commander, but he was busy with another mission right now.

"Good," the commander said. "I'm sure you've all reviewed your mission data. We need you to work as efficiently as possible. The first stage is to claim the ruins of Lagrano Tower to act as our mission base there. Once you've made contacts and discovered where the Rebellion support areas are, we'll send in extra personnel to assist in the retaking of the city. There should be no civilians within Lagrano, but there is the possibility that there are. Stay sharp and be careful."

While Redips had been talking, Wedge passed a force metal box to Biggs. Right, there was that. He opened it and installed the Protect 20 metal that was inside. His resistance was strong enough to handle it. However, he would need to be careful of equipping any more. Not that it mattered; with the increase of defenses this metal gave him, he didn't need other metals.

There was something he had to relate. "Sir, there is a widespread interference problem in the Giga City area. With your permission, I'd like to add locating the source of that interference and its eradication to our priority orders. I can find no natural explanation for this phenomenon and it appears to be strongest in the south-central parts of Giga City. It will interfere with our ability to communicate with you."

Redips paused for a moment. As a strategist, he had to consider many aspects of the mission before approving. But he did nod. "All right, let that be so. Good luck on your mission. Head on out."

Before he did so, Biggs looked to the other four members of the strike squad. Zero had an air of indifference, or impatience. Shadow nodded sharply to the commander's words. For his unit members, Wedge glanced at him and gave a slight nod, while X looked over the rest, then gave the same sign. Everyone was ready.

"Heading out to Lagrano," Biggs stated, then activated his teleport sequence.

After the momentary unbalance caused by the unorthodox teleport, the five Hunters found themselves on the dark rainy Lagrano Island. There had once been extensive landscaping here, as evidenced by the rich dirt, brick edgings, and broken spotlights. However, all of the plant life was overgrown: bushes were unable to hold their own weight, flowers had slipped out of their boundaries, and some of the trees looked sickly and unsuited for this area. This area had been a research laboratory at one point. But it had been years since it had seen use.

Biggs checked through his more unusual senses while the others looked over the place visually and audibly. Noticing the particular interference program, he activated a coded radio frequency to speak to the others. " _The interference will keep us from speaking to headquarters until we find a dead spot, but it seems we can manage local transmissions with little problem._ "

X automatically took leadership of the group. " _Good, then let's keep vocals to a minimum. Does anybody see any potential problems?_ "

" _Looks quiet here,_ " Zero responded, with similar responses from the other two. The only one that could challenge X's position as squad leader was Zero, but Biggs had always noted that he preferred to avoid taking responsibility for the actions and defense of others.

When X looked to him, Biggs held up a hand as a signal that he was still running his thorough checks. He was technically the weak link in a fight, but his skills were valuable. He'd notice anything far before the rest, and notice things they would think unimportant.

Then he put his hand down. " _This tower is fifty stories high, but I'm having difficulty scanning above ten floors. There seems to be no one else around. However, the building has sustained a lot of damage, both from battle and from abandonment to the environment. The west side is particularly dangerous and could be further damaged by anything we do._ "

X nodded. " _I see. Any early insight into the computer systems?_ "

He shook his head. " _No. But I doubt this place will be a suitable away base. The repair work necessary would draw attention from the other parts of the city._ "

" _Let's check it out anyways._ " With that, the group moved out to the entrance of the building.

* * *

 

When Biggs had mention doubts about Lagrano, Shadow had worried that it would wreck his plans. He needed them to go into the old ruins. However, X expressed interest in seeing the place despite that. That was good.

Shadow was pleased that things were working out at last. When he'd been built, he was told that he was one of the strongest soldier reploids to come out of Giga City. Proud of that, he'd left to join the Maverick Hunters, hoping to become stronger and famous. They hadn't seen him as anything different from their usual new Hunters. Shadow had worked hard, determined to prove them wrong. But it still didn't work out. His class ranking struggled to reach a B and he was placed under the command of another Giga City native, Depth Dragoon. This was despite the fact that Dragoon was younger than he was! Adding further insult onto that, there was that third star Hunter in their ranks. Axl, some no-brand reploid that no one could figure out where he'd been built, somehow shot up through the ranks straight to the exclusive S Class in a matter of weeks. Or less than that, it was before he had come.

Shadow hated Axl even more than Dragoon, but at least the latter had given him a break. The two of them had secret contact with the Rebellion leader Epsilon. Now that reploid, he was someone that Shadow could admire. Epsilon wanted to see to it that all reploids were brought up to their fullest potential. He wanted for humans and their government to stop controlling the reploids and let them be who and what they wanted to be. When he'd been branded a Maverick as a result, Shadow felt deep disgust with both the global government and the Hunters.

However, he kept that a secret. That secret made him highly valuable to the Rebellion forces. They knew that one of their biggest obstacles was the three S Class hunters. While Shadow had been tempted to off Axl himself, Epsilon had come up with a cunning trap for that one; it was being triggered elsewhere. For X and Zero, Shadow was leading them into their trap. The two more experienced Hunters would be cautious, and they would be powerful. The Rebellion meant to overtake them by overwhelming force.

Once the three Hunters were gone, the Rebellion would be freer to go ahead with their plans. In thanks for his part in things, Epsilon was going to give Shadow a potent force metal that would greatly enhance his power. With that metal, Shadow could then get better respect and higher influence within the Maverick Hunters. That would help Epsilon as well, giving him more sympathetic voices to repeal the Maverick branding.

That dream required that he succeed here. Fortunately, he had been paired with Zero before on several missions. The blond reploid still acted gruff with him, but apparently held some respect for Shadow. That connection made it easier for Dragoon to get Shadow picked out as the fifth strike squad member, as Zero wouldn't complain as much. Although it was going well so far, there were still many mistakes that could be made. The support reploid Biggs, for one thing, presented a major problem.

The entrance to the tower used to be made up of an impressive set of double security doors, ensuring that one did not enter unless one was allowed to enter. However, it had been an early target for the Rebellion and thus years ago, the doors had been ripped and blasted out of place. From the inside. Those doors were currently missing from the grounds as well, but it was likely that mechaniloids, like the three crabs Biggs had following him around, had picked them up for recycling.

Inside, there was a round lobby. At one point, there had been tables and chairs, making a welcoming environment. Not anymore. The furnishings were all gone. At the back of the room, there was still a tall statue of a human standing underneath a black flying saucer object. It was more or less intact, as someone had chipped off his face but left the rest there.

" _Any mechaniloids active?_ " X asked, walking over to the west side of the lobby to clear the room. Zero went to the east side, so Shadow followed him.

" _Some small ones,_ " Biggs noted. He and Wedge went with X, although the support reploid started to head towards the back, where a receptionist area was built. There would certainly be a computer back there, at least a port. " _Bat Bones… they won't be aggressive unless you outright attack them._ "

This was good, Shadow thought. The group was separated and the support problem was heading towards the back. He made a move that seemed like he was adjusting the energy cannon barrel that was mounted on his helmet, but it actually sent a signal to a bomb hidden behind the statue.

Biggs kept going. " _Patrol Dogs, another small one, capable of firing small caliber bullets, but generally not suited for close-quarters combat. We shouldn't be bothered by them._ " He then stopped, and backed up. " _Hang on. Move towards the front, something suspicious…_ "

A blast of noise and energy shook the lobby, launching the half-wall of the receptionist area into the open doorframe, where it stuck firm. The statue shot shrapnel everywhere, but Shadow was able to avoid major damage by shielding his uncovered face with his armored arm. In an unexpected move, the structure took a major hit and caused the middle portion of the second floor to crash down into the lobby. Was the whole tower going to collapse on them?

After a tense minute, the noise died down. Bits of rubble rattled down the heaped pile in the center of the lobby. Dust choked the air, making it into a brown haze. " _Is everyone okay?_ " X called over the line. Once he got four positive statements, he added, " _Let's go up out of this dust; I don't think we can leave through that door._ "

Knowing where the door to the stairwell was, Shadow headed right for it. Zero was soon by his side, his right hand ready to draw his weapon. But no one would be there to attack them.

" _The second story doors have locked down due to the damage,_ " Biggs reported. " _And I lost two of my beetles. That signal went off abruptly; I didn't notice it until right then._ "

Shadow and Zero passed by the second story doors, which had red lights indicating a lockdown status. They heard X reply, " _It's all right, that can happen. Either that was left in case of looters or someone knows we're here. Whichever reason it is, they would have made sure we couldn't notice that bomb._ "

" _Are you three doing all right with the damaged west side area?_ " Zero asked.

" _It's not that bad right now,_ " Wedge replied. A crash of thunder came from outside, causing what lights were left to flicker.

" _It won't be so nice when we get to the damaged wall sections, and the storm gets into gear,_ " Biggs noted.

" _If we can cross over to your side, we'll do it,_ " X said. " _Keep an eye out for any other exits, or things that need investigating._ "

Hmm, so they still had to deal with the support reploid before he could reach the uppermost floors. Reviewing the layout of the building, Shadow began to develop a new plan. He couldn't fail here.

* * *

 

Even though the group had been separated, Zero felt it had worked out all right. X had his two followers with him, so the three of them would work well together. And he knew he could work with Shadow. He was a fellow swordsman, preferring heavy blades though. He also had something called a Pulverizer Cannon which, while difficult to aim, was powerful. If Zero were to actually add others to his unit, Shadow would be one of his top picks, if not the top pick.

Zero preferred to work on his own normally, or with a few select others. X encouraged him to trust more people than he had been. Was all that bugging finally getting through? Possibly. Zero was trying to be more open, even if marginally so. He had accepted the friendship of Axl, a young and rash reploid who looked up to him as a role model. Previously, he had discouraged that as much as possible among the new Hunters (even though it rarely worked).

Could he do the same with Shadow now? He was around the same age as Axl. Maybe. It was hard to tell how old (or mature) a reploid was sometimes. And Shadow was different. He was ambitious rather than rash. He was still in the state of mind that thought gaining power was the best way to advance. From experience, Zero knew that that didn't work.

He watched as Shadow destroyed another of those little pig mechaniloids that were pestering them for trespassing. Switching to a personal transmission level, Zero told him, " _You're charging ahead too quickly._ "

He turned and raised an eyebrow. " _What do you mean?_ "

" _It doesn't matter so much against these simpletons. But tougher opponents, even mechaniloids, often have energy field shields that block attacks. In that case, you don't want to be the one making the first strike. Let someone with a lighter weapon and higher speed, like me, deal the first strikes in order to disrupt the shields. Then you, with your heavier blade and cannon, can damage them directly._ "

" _I see. Thank you._ "

What that sincere gratitude or sarcastic politeness? He'd have to observe longer to see. And this particular mission made such observations easy to do. At the end of this, he told himself, he would decide if he wanted to try out a few underlings. Like this fellow.

On the next floor, they encountered a problem. Zero swapped back to the squad's line. " _X, we've hit a dead end. The door's locked on the ninth floor._ "

" _I see. We're on the sixth floor still."_

" _We've got holes in the floor now,_ " Wedge added.

" _Look around that floor for any accessible computers,_ " Biggs suggested. " _I sense some active electrical lines up there; they may be locking that door._ "

" _Right, we're on it._ " He nodded to Shadow, then they split up to investigate the offices of that floor.


	5. Infiltrate Giga City!  Part 2

The storm was going something fierce outside, throwing lightning all over the waves and dropping curtains of water over everything. The wind howled and rattled loose windows. While it shouldn't have been so bad because they were inside, nearly every window of this stairway was busted out. The rain and wind lashed out at Wedge, Biggs, and X.

" _Did we pick a bad night for this mission or what?_ " Wedge joked over the radio. " _Who wants to make a bet on who'll get struck by lightning?_ "

" _Biggs would,_ " Zero replied. " _He's got more equipment than the rest of us."_

" _Oh yes, and eradicate most of our mission data then,_ " X called back, although he was smiling.

" _Nah, X would get hit more likely,"_ Biggs countered. " _He's got a more variable static charge then us. But Shadow's got an even higher static buildup rate; lucky you get the more closed in side."_ He touched his forehead. " _We can skip this eighth floor and go up to the ninth that's causing problems. There's nothing here._ "

" _Good. How're you doing with finding the locks?"_

" _We've got something,"_ Zero replied. " _There's an active computer console up here and it seems to operate the door locks on the west side of the building."_

" _Then there should be a console for the east side over here,"_ X reasoned. " _We'll be there shortly."_

" _It says that the signal is not synchronized, so we haven't been able to get anywhere."_

" _Does it?"_ Biggs asked, looking worried. " _I caught a transmission signal a short time ago, but it seemed to be regular background noise. Did you ask it to transmit anything?"_

" _Other than a request to unlock the door, no."_

" _Might that have been what you picked up?"_ X asked.

" _Could be. I'll keep monitoring the signals."_ After a flash of lightning, he added, " _Teleport signal. Three on the east ninth floor, three on the west ninth floor. All mechaniloids tagged as Preon Chasers."_

" _Sounds like some kind of cheap car,"_ Shadow commented.

" _I don't have any records of these Preons, so be careful."_

When the three of them entered the ninth floor main hall, they soon spotted the Preon mechaniloids. Wedge personally thought they looked on the primitive side: white with orange markings, blocky body shapes, of a vaguely human structure but no faces. On spotting the reploids, one Preon said, "Intruders are not to be tolerated." It fired a small gun on its arm while the other two dashed forward to strike them.

X stepped back and to the side, putting himself in front of Biggs. The support reploid had limited combat capabilities due to the amount of processing he needed for his various other abilities. For Wedge, he was built as a solider reploid. After waiting a second for X to fire his buster arm, he snapped on his V-Blade, a plasma weapon that allowed the weapon energy to spread out in a wide hissing angle, over two feet long and wide. Some of his peers teased him for having a giant fan for his main weapon. As he slashed through both dashing Preons in one move, he again felt glad that it was his main weapon.

" _These Preons are fodder,_ " Zero transmitted. " _They'll be a hassle more than anything."_

" _It looks like they're mass produced,"_ X said in agreement as he shot the distant one again to knock it out. " _There could be more where they came from."_

" _And there will be,"_ Biggs said. " _I've got a multitude of incoming transports on the upper floors, the Preon Chasers and others tagged Preon Bitmasters."_ He pointed to one of the doors and headed for it.

Wedge and X followed him to a small office space. The remaining crab-beetle mechaniloid went to scout out the other offices, in case of anything interesting. Inside, there was a computer console with a lit screen. As the support reploid got to work on the console, X put his hand on Wedge's shoulder and indicated that he should stay in the room. X then went back into the hall, standing just outside to watch from there.

Since his brother was working on the console, Wedge looked around the rest of that office. There were some notebooks; labels on the side indicated that these were financial or business records. There were also various office supplies. On a desk opposite the console, there was a paper with a small plastic bag attached to it. Curious, he went over to look at that.

Inside the bag, there was a force metal. This particular one was a light gray color with white crystal flecks. The base was unmarked, an unusual sign. Most metals were marked with what they were on the base that attached to the reploid's systems. After a glance showed no threats, Wedge read over the paper.

'Subject: Love Metals

'Love metals are the rarest type of force metal that researchers are currently aware of. They are identified by their peculiar selective nature. When attached to most reploids, a love metal will do one of two things: either cause a scalding sensation with contact or connect with zero erosion and specialized effects.

'For the latter effect to take place, the love metal must be equipped by a reploid that the metal seems to favor. We have yet to identify any signs of what reploid a love metal prefers, as two love metals will never choose the same individual. The metal seems to produce an effect that best supports the reploid in relation to that individual's personality. An aggressive reploid will get an aggressive love metal, while a more defensive reploid will get a defensive love metal. However, even in a single metal, there are variations in effects. Each individual that receives a love metal reports that it is the most effective one for themselves they have encountered.

'Because of this, it is impossible to assign a monetary value to a love metal. It may be the rarest type, but its selectiveness and punishment makes it worthless to all but the one it chooses. There have been some cases of a love metal choosing a second bearer if its first user dies, but even this is unpredictable.

'Love metals attained their nickname from a mine overseer who joked that these peculiar force metals fell in love with one reploid and spurned anyone else who tried to equip it. Despite the fact that force metals lack any form of intelligence to experience emotion, much less a complex one such as love, the name has stuck even within scientific circles.

'Enclosed is a love metal that has yet to choose anyone. –Gaudile.'

Biggs spoke over the line. " _Zero, Shadow, are one of you at the security console? I've got the synchronization figured out."_

" _I've got it,"_ Shadow replied, and the two of them discussed getting that done.

Wedge brought the letter over to X and showed him. After giving it a quick read, he nodded and handed it back. Since his commander didn't give any signs against it, he opened the bag and took out the force metal. He had used one before, an energy booster that he'd handed over to the Hunter's research department after that mission. So he knew how to attach it into his systems.

Immediately, a flash of strong pain shot through Wedge's arm, causing him to jerk the metal back out. Biting on his tongue, he managed to keep from cursing aloud. He did curse over the transmission line, getting an amused snicker out of X and a look of concern from Biggs.

" _What was that about?"_ Zero asked.

" _Stupid love metal,"_ Wedge grumbled over the line before realizing that it would confuse the other three.

X covered for him, thankfully. " _It's a peculiar force metal that specializes itself to one reploid. If it doesn't like you, so to speak, it causes you pain. The researchers left one here."_

Biggs turned from the console and came over to them. " _Can force metal seriously do that?"_

" _Want to try?"_ Wedge dared, handing him the gray metal.

Shrugging, he attached it next to the Protect 20 metal… and then promptly cussed harsher than Wedge had while dropping the love metal.

" _This sounds like something amusing to do to newbies,"_ Zero commented.

" _It wasn't that bad,"_ Wedge said, picking up the metal. X gave him a curious look, so he handed it over.

" _I'm more sensitive to any stimuli,"_ Biggs countered, rubbing his arm. He went back to the console. " _Shadow, are you ready to synchronize the signals?"_

" _Yes."_

X attached the metal to himself. Wedge waited to see what his reaction would be. However, there was nothing. X looked at it sparkle before sliding the cover over his FM slots. " _It seems to accept me."_

" _So you've got a metal lover now,"_ he teased, getting a laugh reply from the others.

There was a beep. " _Okay, the doors to the next levels should be unlocked now. So what's that metal do?"_ Biggs left the console and waited.

" _I can't exactly tell,"_ X replied. " _I'll watch it. But it has no erosion factor, so I doubt it'll affect me."_

" _You have a massive erosion resistance anyhow,"_ Shadow said.

" _The door is unlocked,"_ Zero reported. " _Let's keep going."_

" _Right."_

* * *

 

The storm had decided to add hail to the mix. X led his two followers, and the one mechaniloid, up yet another curving stairway. In twenty-five floors, they had yet to find an access point to the east side of the building. Why was that?

Over the com radio, he got a personal transmission from Zero. " _Looks like we've got a connection point. Floor twenty-nine."_

" _Good, but why just tell me?"_

" _There seems to be something here, but I want to scout some of the floors above us too. I'd like to send Shadow up to do so."_

At that, X felt a pleasant surprise. " _You trust him that much?"_

" _Him, yes. Plus I want to see how he handles the responsibility."_

" _Thinking about adding others to your unit?"_

" _How did you know?"_ Before X could respond to that, Zero added, " _Whatever. Yes. Not many, but I'm thinking of a trial run."_

" _All right, we'll do that."_ Then he swapped over to the shared line. " _Men, seems like we've got a connection point on the twenty-ninth floor. Zero, you check out what you mentioned on that floor. Shadow, you go up the next few floors to check out their condition and if there's any intelligent foes."_

" _I wouldn't think so,"_ Biggs noted. _"But then I can't sense further than floor thirty-five now. At this rate, we might get a workable clarity on the top floor. That's still half the building to cover, though."_

With the assurance that anything interesting would be where Zero was, X's group hurried on up the stairs to meet with him. At first, the twenty-ninth floor seemed darkened like all the rest. Then a group of red and yellow lights appeared, betraying Zero's position briefly. They quickly faded, much like the rest had toned down anything that would show up in the dark.

Biggs gave them the signal that the floor was in decent shape, so they went to meet up with Zero. He nodded to them, then waved them into a particular room. Apparently, he'd found something they'd want to see.

Past the thankfully functioning door, there was a robotics laboratory. Much of it was a mess, not cleaned up like the rest of the building. There were a number of work stations inside, as well as a computer console that seemed operable. Biggs went to check out the latter, so Wedge followed to keep him guarded.

Zero brought X to a board. " _Most of these appear to be combat reploids, and a few names are known Rebellion members. This seems to be a production list of what this lab produced."_

And that's exactly what it was, X thought as he looked over the list.

'Development Status of Lab B: Combat Reploids

'Note: See corporate records for following subjects: Aile, Shadow, Jaide, Duckbill Mole, Rafflesian, Roslyn Rifle, Katelyn Knife. Data on other subjects is kept in the public records.

'Current subjects:

'Dr. Psyche, Research and Development Reploid, Code Green.

'Silver Horn, Aquatic Wide-Range fighter, Code Green.

'Wild Jango, Close-Combat Speedster, Code Green.

'Incentas, Adaptive Elemental Combatant, Code Green.'

Zero pointed to the names 'Roslyn Rifle' and 'Katelyn Knife'. " _I remember these two. I had to eliminate them after FM erosion drove them violently insane. They had killed this one."_ He pointed to 'Jaide'.

" _How were they?"_

" _Very skilled. If these are all combatants like those three, then this list would make for a small but effective army."_

Biggs and Wedge came back over. " _No good,"_ the former said. " _Somebody took the time to wipe the lab computers."_

" _And they left this list for us, huh?"_ Zero asked. " _Shadow, we found your build lab."_

" _I thought I told you that,"_ he replied.

" _How are you on clearing the area?"_ X asked.

" _I'm coming back down now. There's more Preons, but there's also something flying about outside. It looks like trouble."_

" _Outside?"_ Biggs closed his eyes to focus on that.

X made a motion to Zero to lead them to the stairs, which he acknowledged with a nod. He then took Biggs' shoulder and led him out of the lab. That way, he could move with the rest of them while trying to get a read on the potential enemy outside.

A muffled laugh came from Biggs. " _That would be a top-class tank mechaniloid out there. It's tagged as the Hippopressor."_

Zero snorted softly while X and Wedge tried not to laugh.

Then their support member turned serious. " _Despite the punny name, it is a heavily armed, and yet flying, tank. That thing could potentially destroy this tower with the weaponry it's packing. Perhaps whatever triggered all the Preons has called on it as a higher level of security. It could cause us some trouble, and it is searching for something. I can only deflect those pings so much, especially with you up there, Shadow."_

" _I'm getting down. We can access an elevator shaft on the thirty-second floor, by the way, and Lagrano Construction Lab A on the thirty-first."_

" _What about the thirtieth?"_ X asked, although they had come to it themselves.

" _A lobby of some sort; you'll come to it shortly. And there's locked doors to the rest of the floor, but it's mostly break rooms back there."_

" _Ambush spot,"_ Biggs quickly said as they came onto the lobby floor.

That's what X thought too, given what he had said about the tank flying about outside. The room itself was a semi-circle, a long straight wall connected to another long curved wall. On the outer wall, there were a number of windows blurred by sheets of rain. Like the first floor lobby, this one was devoid of furnishings. That gave no cover whatsoever.

" _Time to run?"_ X asked.

" _No,"_ Biggs replied.

And right as he did, the windows shattered inward to a missile. It struck right behind X, right into Biggs, then hit the wall and promptly exploded. The squad leader got knocked down by the explosive force, but Zero and Wedge were quick to block him from any further attacks. As a bolt of lightning struck nearby, they could see a large hippo-shaped tank mechaniloid flying their way. With various garish colors and noisy jets, it wasn't meant to be a subtle weapon. As it came in, it began firing a number of small-caliber weapons.

* * *

 

For a moment, Wedge felt disoriented and terrified. That hippo tank had knocked his brother offline, maybe even killed him. He'd always worked with Biggs on missions, even before they had joined the Maverick Hunters. Even when they were apart, he always had a certain connection to his twin, knowing where he was and if he was in trouble. For him to be gone, just like that…

No, this wasn't the time to panic. It had seemed harsh, but being part of the Hunters, they were trained to block this kind of thing out as best they could and keep fighting. A moment of panic would get another person killed.

Wedge whirled his fan-shaped blade to deflect the bullets, while Zero dodged them and dashed forward to strike the Hippopressor's head. After it tried to chomp on his leg, he came back. "X, it's got a shot counter; avoid the head. You, see if you can't slice open those jets without blowing them up." Their opponent was noisy enough that they could get away with speaking now.

X nodded and Wedge said, "Right." Ignoring the lack of name use, he went with Zero this time, going along the hippo's right side. While Zero attempted to put out its visual sensors, Wedge did as requested. But a number of slots opened up, firing small spikes at him when he tried to get close to the jet. They stuck into his armor and sent electronic pulses into his systems. It goofed up his nerves and made him feel overloaded. " _It's got bind spikes,_ " he told the others as he tried to slash the jet anyways.

A plasma burst went over his head as X shot off a gun barrel that had come out to aim at Wedge while he was handicapped. The Hippopressor retaliated by using a burst of its jets to 'jump' at them, then cut the power so it fell on Zero. Although he managed to keep from getting under, Wedge felt the tremor of the floor disturb his systems. From the sound of things on the other side, he guessed Zero managed to avoid it and get a deep hit on it.

" _That's a long gap,"_ X commented. " _Can you see a processor?"_

" _Yes, in the neck area."_

" _Shadow, where are you?"_

" _Just reached your floor,"_ he replied, entering through the stair doors.

" _You and Zero wreck its CPU once I get Wedge away. It's got too much ammunition to risk staying close."_ While he transmitted the orders, X dashed over to him and gave a quick glance at the bind spikes. They were all down Wedge's right side, so the quick method of unbinding wouldn't work. Instead, he grabbed Wedge and pulled him back quickly to the wall.

On the Hippopressor's left side, Zero had sliced off a chunk of its armor. Shadow dashed over and slammed his wide blade into the gap and the CPU. His sword had a lot more heft than other plasma blades, thanks to the weighted handle it had. With that cut off, the large mechaniloid abruptly shut down, defeated.

Then something clicked on its back. A missile similar to the one that had killed Biggs loaded itself into the launcher and began beeping ominously. Meant to punish anyone who would defeat it, it could be run from. Except, they were in the middle of a ruined tower and a second blast like that would very likely knock the whole thing down.

"Sorry, but take this," X whispered, passing him a black box. Then he dropped Wedge and made a dash-jump to the top of the Hippopressor. He was likely trying to disarm the missile before it exploded.

Zero and Shadow were busy checking over the mechaniloid to make sure there wasn't anything else that would go off. Since he'd be a burden in this state, Wedge set down the box (as he wasn't sure what it was) and began plucking the bind spikes out of his armor. It was terrible that Biggs had to go like that, shot down with a friggin' missile before the enemy even came in after them. But this was still hostile territory; he'd have to sort out his feelings about his brother's death later. That's what he was trained to do.

That didn't make it easy.

By the time Wedge was able to inject anti-lockup nanites into himself, the other three had finished clearing the Hippopressor of further danger. X gave a look around the dim room, then waved to the rest to the stairs. " _At this point, I have to call this mission a bust. Lagrano Tower is unworkable for our intentions and someone knows of our presence."_

" _Are you sure it's not just automated security or a rogue mechaniliod?"_ Shadow asked. He had taken the back of the group, while Zero got up front. Wedge had picked the box back up and came in the middle. As his commander had told him to take it, he put it in a pocket so it'd be out of the way.

X nodded as they started up the stairs. " _There's too many suspicious clues. A tank like that is normally not used to defend an abandoned area. There was the bomb in the first lobby, and also, the Preons had been targeting Biggs as well. That is highly unusual behavior in combat mechanilioids, as he wasn't one shooting at them."_

" _And we were usually closer targets too,"_ Wedge added.

" _It takes strategic intelligence to cause such aggressive focus on a support reploid in a combat situation. Somebody wants to lower our awareness level. In the same manner, we have also encountered difficulties finding an exit to this place. All teleporting devices so far have been smashed. We should make a priority of getting out of this place quickly. If we must, we'll go to the top floor, but anything lower than that is preferable. And be cautious with any attacks that you make. With Biggs out, we can no longer check on the structural integrity of building."_ He patted Wedge on the shoulder briefly. " _But keep hold of that device, all right? The engineers back at base should be able to revive him with it."_

So Biggs wasn't entirely gone? Wedge felt a deep sense of relief. " _That's good."_

" _It takes an awful lot to fully kill a reploid, and even that wasn't enough."_ And that was why standard Maverick Hunter policy was to melt down remains, or at least burn out critical parts.

" _You're going to have a hell of a time trying to diplomat our way out of this, huh?"_ Zero asked.

Wedge saw X grimace at the thought. _"Right, we don't want this seen as an act of aggression. Which reminds me, let me speak to anyone sentient who appears. I've dealt with this kind of problem before."_

Feeling concerned again, Wedge asked, _"Did we mess up this one?"_

" _We didn't,"_ X said. " _So far, you all have done well. I think the failure was in the intel department, since they should have recognized this place as unsuitable."_

* * *

 

Back at base, Axl hopped off his bike, leaving it in the teleport chamber. "I've left the key with it, so you can send it to the vehicle bay, please," he told the teleport operator.

She nodded and sent it that way. "Sure thing, sir. Oh, and you're back on active duty now that you've returned. X and Zero are away on a mission."

He groaned, but it was more for drama than anything. "Oh, really? I thought I had another six hours off. All well; I'll get up to the command center to check in then. Thanks for telling me."

"You're welcome."

As that wasn't the mission teleporter, Axl had to go up a dozen floors in order to reach the command center. The security devices checked his identity, but let him in without any resistance. The center itself was fairly quiet; most active missions lately had been of low enough security that they were handled by a separate operator's room. Right now, there was just a single mission operator there, looking frustrated at the screens.

"Something not working right, Palette?" he asked.

She looked back and smiled. "Oh, hi Axl. I'm thinking that's so. Interference…"

The screen only showed a hazy nighttime scene, blurry and sometimes showing static snow. "Huh. Well I came here to check in on active duty. Are you working with X and Zero?"

Frowning, she turned back to the console. "I should be. I should be in constant contact with Biggs and X. The interference was lightening up, but it clamped back down shortly after they arrived. They went inside this building and I have no clue what's going on."

"That's serious." He sat down in the chair beside her. "Wait, interference? Are they in Giga City?"

"I suppose it's all right to tell you. Yes, that's where they are, in the Lagrano District. They're to take on the Rebellion."

Axl grabbed the back of her chair. "This is not good. I was just in Giga City myself, in Melda. I was using my personal time to do some research, but the Rebellion somehow found out and set a trap for me."

"They did?" She started trying to reach the Lagrano group again with more energy.

"They knew almost when I was supposed to arrive too; I managed to get out by changing into a local mechaniloid so that they didn't know I was there. But they said specifically that they were there to destroy me by ambushing in a large group. If those two are on an official mission, I wouldn't doubt that a trap has been set up for them too."

"Right. Ugh, I'm not getting through! Look, will you give me the names of those who knew that you were going? Teleport opts, tipsters, anyone."

Axl nodded and closed his eyes, recalling who he might have told.

* * *

 

As reported by Shadow, the thirty-first floor contained another robotics lab. X had the group split up for a quick search for a working teleporter, or a dead spot in the interference. After checking out the main lab himself, he noted that no computers were working on this level. And this one had a production list on the wall too. Curious.

'Development Status of Lab A: High-Performance Reploids

'Note: See corporate database records for status of projects: Professor Gaudile, Chief R, Deo Midas, Nana, Ninetales, Jasmine, Saffron, Cumin. Data of other projects is kept in the public records.

'Current subjects:

'Botos: Rhythmic Energy Manipulator, Code Green.

'Ferham: Aerial Specialist Combatant, Code Green.

'Scarface: Bladed Knight Combatant, Code Green

'Epsilon: Unknown Energy Manipulator, Code Orange. Warning: Unit displays erroneous processes, requires recapture and reprogramming.'

Scrawled on a small scrap of paper near the list was a note that, 'lab b sux.'

X frowned at the last note. Why was such an unprofessional notice here? Had there been some problems with the Lagrano staff before whatever happened to destroy this place? Whatever it was, Biggs had found no information in the lab network and there were more important matters at hand. He left the lab and, after checking with the others, led the group up to the next floor.

While it was terrible that he'd lost one of his men, he had to focus on keeping the ones he had left. He didn't have to worry about Zero; the two of them had been in far worse scenarios where it wasn't just intel that messed up. Wedge was the same age and experience level as Biggs, having been made in the same lab with him. He was holding up well despite his brother's defeat. As a Class B Hunter, he knew his duty. Shadow was Class B as well and if Zero thought highly of him, he shouldn't slow them down. But there could be more surprises ahead.

The next few levels, it was mostly Preons in their way. " _This is as far as I got,"_ Shadow reported as they left the thirty-fifth floor. There was no carriage in the elevator shaft, so X was having them look for any escape options.

But the thirty-sixth floor stopped that idea. " _Looks like somebody swiss cheesed this place_ ," Wedge commented.

That was an accurate assessment of the situation. The stairs to the next level were collapsed; they could see this due to the gaping holes in the walls. Above them, there were matching holes in the ceiling. One massive hole covered a third of the floor. Looking up into that darkness by a flash of lightning, many of the upper floors were similarly gutted. In various places, water spilled down and pooled on the floor.

" _Looks like the structural supports are intact,"_ X noted. " _If any of the debris were still here, the tower would be highly unstable. As it is, let's take the shaft."_

There was no cable and the carriage was nowhere in sight, but the four reploids weren't impeded by this. Wall cling technology on boots and gloves were common, so they were able to use the wall surfaces to jump up the shaft. Although it wasn't as fast as a reploid with vertical flight capabilities, it was fairly steady progress.

X checked out doors that were either missing or working enough to open. However, the floors never looked in good enough shape to explore. At two separate points, the thirty-eighth and the forty-fourth floors, he noticed a signal trying to target them. The second time, he readily identified it as the Tokyo base attempting to pull them back. The interference seemed to defeat the attempts, leaving them climbing the tower.

At the forty-ninth floor, the elevator shaft ended. Zero landed in the doorway and transmitted, " _There's some holes, but enough structure to walk around on."_ He moved out to make room for the rest.

When they all made it out, they could see that almost half the floor was gone. It seemed that the stairs were still intact. Rainwater was streaming down them, though. " _I'm guessing the roof's gone,"_ X said. " _But this ceiling doesn't have many holes. We should be able to get a decent signal up there."_ Then he saw the grimace on Zero's face. " _Something up?"_

" _I have a weird feeling,"_ he replied. " _I don't recognize this. Keep cautious."_

X nodded. There was some strange energy that he was picking up as well, but he didn't know what to make of it. As it didn't seem immediately threatening, he waved for them to go ahead to the next level.

His guess about the structure was right, as the fiftieth floor had lost its roof. The floor was formed out of a gray speckled stone material. While it was weathered and cracked, it had thus far held up. The walls hadn't and only a few jagged parts of them remained. Although it was lessening, the storm was still dousing everyone with rain, wind, and the occasional thunderclap. There was no cover, so the ambush force of four reploids was painfully obvious. It was the three top officers of the Rebellion, Scarface, Botos, and Ferham, along with the leader Epsilon.

Okay, now the mission had officially gone to hell.

"Here you are," Epsilon stated. "I don't deny that you are great reploids, Maverick Hunters, but you stand in the way of our ideals and the progress of reploid kind. Therefore, you must be eliminated. Everyone, and Shadow, now."

Shadow? X had to drop and roll aside as the masked Scarface activated a double-bladed plasma sword and rushed at him. As he got upright and fired back, he saw Shadow standing over the fallen body of Wedge, who seemed to have been attacked from behind without warning. Zero slashed at Botos, who had rushed at him, then tried to get near Epsilon. Ferham activated an electromagnetic whip and latched onto Zero's sword hand from behind. Scarface came at X again as Epsilon charged some kind of attack.

Scanning through what he'd read, X opted to dash out of Scarface's range while charging his buster. When it was at the height of its power, he fired at Ferham, getting her to let go of Zero. X kept moving, watching the combatants, briefly seeing that Wedge's head had been split open from the top… later. Zero ducked and dashed to get Scarface and Shadow to clash blades. With a fierce expression on his face, he looked very bitter at Shadow's defection and attacked him harshly. X had to dodge out of Botos' rolling attack.

Then Epsilon released his weapons charge, firing two strong beams of energy at X and Zero. X felt deeply rattled even though his armor was quite good; the attack was directed at their nanites, managing to annihilate seventy percent of his. Taking advantage of X's sudden weakness, Scarface spun around and slashed one of his blades across X's chest with enough force to knock him to the rocky floor. X knew he heard it crack under the impact. Internally, he got an alert that his radio and signaling units had all been damaged severely.

Zero made an attempt to reach him, but Ferham caught him with her whip again and Shadow smashed his blade's handle into his back. Botos then crashed into him as Ferham let go, knocking Zero clean off the tower. If his communications were still working, he should be able to request a teleport before he crashed into the ocean.

Making his next decision quickly, X started charging his buster again, rolling back onto his feet. The four, no, five Rebellion members glanced at each other, as if deciding who should make the final blow. X acted before they did thankfully, but he aimed his buster at the floor and fired, kicking up a dust cloud. Then he dashed off the edge of the tower.

There was a booming crack as the stone flooring finally gave way. There were five flashes of a teleport recall, so he hadn't managed to get any of them. But Lagrano Tower had finally taken too much and collapsed as X fell through the air. He was counting on Zero to make contact to get them both out. Unless his signaling was damaged enough that HQ couldn't even target him…

He crashed into a metal roof, causing it to break apart before the tower fully collapsed. Although X landed heavily in a boat, he didn't break that too. It seemed all of his pain sensors had been set off at once, as much of his body got broken after the long fall. It wasn't instantly fatal as it would have been to a human. Even if he was alive for now, fixing all that damage would be a major operation and he had worn through most of his energy with his last attack. A dense cloud of dust and debris rushed over him as the tower's fall caught up with his.

Feeling the warm storm-stirred waves wash over the edges of the small boat, X was in too much physical pain to think clearly. But he could feel some energy at work in his body. The force metal he had installed was activating, attempting to help him deal with the damage. From it, he got the idea that he might want to conserve as much energy as he could to remain alive by entering a state of hibernation. It could shield him from taking programming damage when under that state.

At that point, it seemed like a good idea. X withdrew within himself, condensing as much of his self as he could within the strongest and most whole areas. They might take a while to find him, but he would be alive. Just before he withdrew from conscious thought, he felt the love metal bring an extra layer of protection to him.

* * *

 

Zero clenched his fists, trying not to show weakness in expressing how much pain he was in right now. Crashing into the surface of the water from fifty stories up had been no different from falling onto solid concrete. Around him, the Hunter technicians were assessing his damage and seeing how he could be safely moved to the repair wing. The floor was slick as some ocean water had gotten transported with him.

"How are the others on your mission?" one of them asked. "We haven't heard anything from you since you left."

As he didn't want to move his facial structure and damage it further, he sent a transmission over a general use line. " _Biggs and Wedge are offline. Shadow turned out to be a mole leading us into an ambush. X was still up there when I was knocked off. You should get him at least."_

"Roger." The tech started to work at his computer, but didn't finish. "Er… I can't find his signal. Or any sign of him. It seems he was taken down before you got knocked off the tower."

When that Scarface had slammed into him. " _Dammit! Those Rebellion jokers are going to pay."_

Right after that, his senses cut out. He had just enough time to realize that they had sedated him. In this case, it was probably good. He would have flipped out otherwise.

* * *

 

Botos checked over satellite signals and traffic for several minutes. "Zero got 'ported back alive," he reported. "They didn't get X, though. He cut out after hitting close to the main pier."

"No good," Ferham said. "We only got one of them."

"I wouldn't say that," Epsilon said. "Zero is going to be out of commission for at least a month with that kind of injury. And they will be handicapped even with just X gone. Still, we will have to either take Zero out before he recovers or be prepared by the time he is back in shape. We need our hold on this city secured before then. Psyche, how are you doing?"

The technician reploid shook his head, still examining Shadow. "I'm not getting any information. They already put him on a blacklist, so the transmission encoding deleted itself."

"It would help if we had a contact in tech," the former Hunter added. Although he was badly injured from Zero's attacks, he was doing his best not to appear weak.

"I see," Epsilon said. "It wasn't necessary. Let's move ahead with our plans."

* * *

 

**Mission Data**

Name: X

Builder: Dr. Thomas Light

Model type: Android

Equipment

X-Buster-32: The buster gun that X has always had, with some modifications done over the years.

Z-Saber: A backup weapon, X received this from Zero during one of the Sigma Wars.

VWS: Variable weapons system, a weapon-copying method that hasn't yet been replicated exactly.

Hyper- X Fire: An armor that X as tinkered with, it is black and red with a claw gun that deals Combat damage due to low range. Deals fire damage.

A/N: In the game, X comes without his Special Weapons power. Instead, he can equip a large range of buster adapters that cover all elements and then some. He's the main character, so you have access to him at all times. He has well-rounded stats, deals Shot-type damage while having access to Combat-type, starts with an attack-all option, and has a good resistance factor. And his voice actor did a great job in my opinion, if that makes a difference. If it were reasonable, you could solo the game with him pretty well. About the only thing that counts against him is that enemies that resist Shot damage have high defenses, and are irritatingly common.  He even gets a force metal after just one battle in game that acts as an Auto-Life item in case you're worried.  It only works for X and there's a few others like this.  They don't have a special name in-game; the one I used was inspired by Disgaea.


	6. Raising a Resistance, part 1

'To Central Tower Operating Governor:

'For the past century, the greatest technological advancement that humans have produced has been the creation of machines capable of true understanding, emotion, intelligence, and willpower, the creation of reploids. When such machines are aware enough that they fear an end, are they truly alive? Yes, reploids are a life created by the hands of mankind.

'Despite this, humanity has yet to fully acknowledge their creations. They have not extended full civil rights and liberties to us reploids, even though we would be capable of acknowledging the responsibilities of such citizenship. Humans have come up with laws and regulations preventing reploids from being recognized as intellectual equals. Despite depending on us, they oppress us with third-class treatment. Any reploid who dares question the status quo or steps the slightest out of line is branded a Maverick and destroyed without compassion.

'We aim to change this grievous inequality. We are known as the Rebellion, a reploid force seeking the betterment of all reploids. We ask for equal treatment, including the freedom to choose our own paths whether in careers or in life itself. To this end, we wish to bring Giga City together as a unified and independent nation, separate from human influence and directed entirely by the decisions of reploids.

'With the recent evacuation of all human residents and workers of Giga City, we have nearly reached our goal. However, your district has steadfastly and continually denied our ideals and dreams. We do not mean to bring war; we would much rather have peaceful cooperation and shared enlightenment. If you persist in such ignorant obstinacy, we may turn to persuasion by force to demonstrate the foolishness of your blind loyalty to humankind. It would be regrettable, but we must have a unified Giga City in order to demonstrate the practicality and righteousness of our ideals.

'We know that we have been branded Mavericks ourselves, but that is simply the oppressive force of the worldwide human governments attempting to keep reploidkind from finding their true destiny, their proper place in the world. We do not fear such things, for the nature of history will prove our aim true with time. Do not fear such temporary setbacks.

'Consider this well,

'From Epsilon.'

The letter lay on the old-fashioned writing desk, left behind by the former Governor of Giga City. He had been a human; a week ago, he had been found murdered in one of the plazas of Central Tower. Since the Rebellion forces had made no effort to hide that killing, there was no mystery behind it. However, there had not been an arrest or any effort at justice. What humans hadn't died had escaped already.

At the desk was the operating Governor, Chief R. He had been designed as a military tactician and commander originally. However, some arguments with the group who had made him and some soul searching proved that R didn't want to be involved with military affairs. Instead, he came here to Central Tower, to put his skills to work in running the daily affairs of Giga City. It was an unappreciated challenge, to keep everything running smoothly, to address problems before they became noticed, to handle disagreements and even act as a judge when the need rose. That was the job he loved and the global government had approved of a budget for retraining him. Truly, the old governor had helped him immensely.

But now there was this problem that went far beyond his usual civilian duties. The Rebellion had overwhelmed all other districts of Giga City, taking over such valuable assets as Ulfat Factory and Tianna Mine. All this for some high sounding ideals which, much to his dislike, R agreed with on some level. It had taken a long time for him, a military reploid, to be accepted into a civilian job by everyone, even though he was nearly overqualified for the job. A lot of that fuss could have been avoided if humans gave up the idea that reploids were set in stone, unchanging.

Chief R had no desire to join the Rebellion, though. No matter how right their underlying philosophy was, no matter how clean their ideals looked, one had to look at the group's actions. That told a completely different story. The Rebellion members were ruthless, killing powerful humans, driving the rest away, then laying waste to their residential areas. Even if they spoke of being for the advancement of reploids, their treatment of their peers wasn't much better. In the takeover, resisting reploids had been imprisoned, tortured, and killed. And many who joined were known criminals, despicable reploids. In that, R wanted nothing to do with them.

Looking at the letter again, R considered how to handle this. The Rebellion clearly wasn't messing around. This was a nice courtesy, but their use of 'persuasion by force' could start as soon as today if he did nothing. Once he spoke out against them, that force would likely start immediately.

There was a chime from the door, announcing someone. R checked the security monitor hidden in the writing desk, then called out, "Come in, Aile."

Coming in the office was an unusual reploid. He was of the usual humanoid base, but then he required a hoverchair in order to get around. His face was completely motionless, but he still spoke from a white band around his neck. "I take it that we've heard from the Rebellion."

R held up the letter briefly. "Yes. They want us to join them or they will force us to do so."

Aile directed his chair to the desk and placed his hand on the surface. "What are we going to do? They'll act quickly."

"I know. Get Nana on the line, then the both of you call all of the combat ready reploids of Central Tower to the 800 Plaza. Can you get them there in half an hour?"

"I'm sure of it." He went to a secretarial desk to begin making phone calls.

At his desk, R made his own plans.

* * *

 

Ka-thump, ka-thump.

He was anything but subtle. Standing nearly seven feet tall when crouched over, his powerful bulk dwarfed the civilian reploids of Central Tower. His weapon was a plasma blade that was longer than any one of them was tall. His armor was so thick and heavy that it required heavy-duty hover engines and tall stabilizer fins in order to move effectively. With that armor came raw strength that no other around him could match. He was Steel Massimo, claimed by his maker to be one of the greatest creations of military technology in operation.

Made outside of Giga City, though.

Still, no one around showed any fear or disdain of him. One woman, holding onto the hand of a child reploid, called out to him. "Oh, Massimo? Are things looking safe for today?"

"For now," he stated gruffly. "I would still be careful and not let that little one go."

"See?" she said softly to the child, patting his back.

"Aw," the boy said in disappointment. But then he grinned at Massimo. "But you'll keep us safe, right? You're awesome."

Massimo gave a grunt for a reply. He disliked answering that question. But they still asked it of him, expecting his protection. While he would defend them, there were problems with that expectation.

He stopped walking to duck his head under a doorway and skate through with the hover engines. They barely lifted him, even with their dedicated force metal support. However, he had to take the long way around in order to reach the 800 Plaza. Massimo's sheer weight kept him from using certain halls and passages.

At the end, he finally reached the designated meeting place. There were twenty-seven reploids here, including him walking over to them. Chief R and his assistant Aile were by the railing at the edge of the tower, discussing something quietly. The rest were scattered about the quiet plaza. Mainly used by tower maintenance, the plaza had a running generator, various dumpsters, steam vents in the floor, and large pipes carrying various necessities like water and power around the district. Because of this, it was little used by the civilians.

Immediately, he became concerned about the meeting. He knew the combatant reploids that lived in and around Central Tower. Those who were not registered criminals were all here. The thousands of other reploids of the district were all civilians: displaced servants of the human populous, factory workers, researchers, maintenance crews, among others. And of the group here, only Chief R was not a combatant. But he was a former military officer.

R ended his talk with Aile, then waved the rest to report. "All right fellows, thanks for coming on such short notice."

"Is this about the Rebellion's forces?" Massimo asked.

Nodding solemnly, he replied, "Correct. Their leader Epsilon has recently sent me an ultimatum, that either Central Tower conforms to their ideals or they will use persuasion by force. I have the feeling that they intend to invade this district by nightfall, tomorrow at the very latest. We have given this much consideration. While we may agree with their philosophy in some parts, we cannot agree with their methods nor their recklessness. We intend to fight."

Aile then activated his buster arm, holding it in front of himself. Although much of his body was crippled, he was still known to be an ace shooter. "If you wish to join the Rebellion forces, we will not stop you from leaving at this time," he said in a warning tone. "But if you intend to undermine our efforts and compromise our security, we will deal with you in the strictest manner of the law."

"State your loyalties now, either to the defense of the civilians of Central Tower or to the Rebellion forces." Chief R looked to them for a response.

Massimo spoke up first. "I will work for the defense of the district. I could never work with such remorseless fools as the Rebellion."

The other twenty-four agreed to working for Central Tower. Good. That meant that most of the supporters of the Rebellion had already left. Unless there were traitors. In which case, Massimo wouldn't care about the outside laws; he would deal with traitors without mercy.

In thanks, R gave a bow. "Excellent. I will be announcing our intentions to the civilians later. For now, we need to make a defense plan and initiate it immediately. However, even with the combined skills and powers of all of you, it will be difficult to defend the tower. We will need to conscript the civilian reploids into the defense force. I hope to leave it open to volunteers, but we need more numbers. Some of you will be kept aside to help train the first ones. However, this will be training by fire, as I expect Epsilon to order the invasion shortly. The rest of you will be stationed at likely invasion points, like the helipad and areas such as this plaza which can be targeted for teleportation. I'd like at least five willing to train civilians to operate the tower's defensive weaponry, then we'll split the rest."

Steel Massimo knew that he wouldn't be suited for working with such extreme novices as civilian volunteers. So he kept silent until he had to accept orders to patrol the shopping plaza and the air bus station nearby.

* * *

 

Giga City was a fully computerized community. Between the multiple networks, various power supplies, thousands of operation divisions, and many transportation routes, it was too complex for the average mind to comprehend. The greenhouses had atmospheric modifiers which had to run at different specs than other systems that regulated temperature, air cleanliness, and humidity. Every computer console had a level of security clearance that dictated what it could or could not access. And there were billions of points where this complex system could break down.

She organized it all.

Working with highly specialized processors, Nana could multitask for the entire city. Check shipment of goods between floors, look for breaks in the electrical grid, manage air traffic, research multiple sources for information, she could do all that at once. Sometimes she hardly noticed the workings of her own body. She was the brains of the city, after all, and there was a lot to do even on quiet days.

Lately, her operations had been further and further restricted. The Rebellion took over areas, then erected powerful firewalls to keep her from reaching them through network lines. They had already been blocking several districts off for years, but now they held all but three areas. In her workplace of Central Tower, the Rebellion had yet to establish a hold. Gaudile Forest had turned independent, cutting itself off before the Rebellion even stepped foot inside. And in the ruins of Lagrano Laboratories… well, nothing useful going on over there. It was frustrating. Did they know how to properly maintain the other districts? Recovering those areas would take a lot of effort.

But they couldn't consider that path now. Right now, the focus was on keeping Central Tower. Nana kept up on the daily tasks while also prepping the defense systems. As the announcement hadn't gone out yet, she couldn't do anything that would be obvious. There was still a lot that she could do.

A tap on her shoulder briefly brought her out of her focused state. "Nana."

Withdrawing her mind from the networks, she looked up to Chief R standing beside her. As usual, his parrot mechaniloid was sitting on the shoulder of his orange armor. "Yes sir?"

"Open up the public broadcast system. It's time."

It was time to prepare for civil war. Swallowing her nervousness about the safety of the city, she replied, "Accessing system…" she had to keep part of herself out to communicate with R, but she delved into the city network again to activate the system. It caused every television in Central Tower to momentarily interrupt broadcasts, every computer console to give the option to patch in, and every electronic bulletin board to activate. Then she brought up the recording equipment for the booth area that R was moving into. Connect it all with real time audio-visual feed… "Broadcast system ready. Just give me word that you are."

R got into the booth and looked up at the camera. A light there would tell him when he was live. "Ready."

Nana put the transmissions through. She watched it from within the network, allowing her to adjust the room's camera and microphones if need be. However, it all was functioning properly.

Bearing an authoritative posture, Chief R spoke to an attentive public. "Citizens of Central Tower, this is your operating Governor Chief R with a serious announcement. The Rebellion has sent word that if we do not submit to their authority, they intend to use force and invade our district. I do not doubt that they will be ruthless in this invasion. In response, we have begun preparations for the tower's defense, as we do not agree with the methods they are using to achieve their distant goals. We will assert our independence and integrity.

"However, we have limited numbers for our defense. Therefore, I am making a call for volunteers for our resistance force. Should you wish to join the defense effort, report to security line 555-843-9852, extension 12 to receive instructions. Otherwise, please shut down your stores, finish your business quickly, and head to various safe zones as noted on a map that can be accessed from your personal account in the Central Tower main information network. We do not want to have major casualties as have occurred in the Rebellion's other attacks on this district.

"If your loyalty lies with the Rebellion, than we will give you time to leave the district. But once the invasion starts, you will be marked as an enemy and dealt with accordingly. I trust the people of this district to do the right thing. I have made the decision to go on the defensive for the sake of the innocent reploids of this city who do not wish to follow the warped vision of the Rebellion.

"I hope the best for all of us. That is all for now."

Nana cut out the broadcast after that signal line. Withdrawing her attention from the network again, she turned to him. "I hope we succeed. They're going too extreme to achieve their so-called ideals."

R nodded as he came out of the recording area. "Thank you, Nana. I appreciate your support immensely. I'm leaving Wolstien here as your guard."

The bipedal wolf-like reploid walked into her view. "I'll guard you well."

"Thank you, Wolstien. Pardon me, but I've got to work on the defenses."

In half a second, she was back at work, watching the volunteers calling in, giving storekeepers reminders to lock down, and dozens of other tasks.

* * *

 

Forty-five minutes after R's broadcast, nearly two hours after the Rebellion had sent their ultimatum, hundreds of Preon soldier mechaniloids teleported into Central Tower. As individuals, Preons weren't hard to beat. In groups, they could be a challenge. In such numbers, both the old and the new fighters were testing their limits.

Aile's buster was geared for power, having a longer hang time in forming bursts. It did knock the Preons out in one blow, but he had to keep his chair on the move to keep from being hit himself. Years ago, he used to a much faster shooter, with a rapid-fire buster to work with high maneuverability. But that was then, and now he had to deal with heavy handicaps. It helped that these days, he actually took that extra second to aim properly. He was knocking out Preons with every shot.

For the moment, the 775 Plaza looked okay. The light sculpture in the center was malfunctioning due to some damage it received, shooting off harmless colored lasers at the ceiling. However, the door behind him opened and two Preons began firing at him. Because his eyes weren't functioning properly, Aile sensed with more than visuals. He put his buster arm back to fire at one of the Preons, turned the chair around, then was able to wreck the other when he faced it.

" _Your area is clear, Aile,_ " he heard Nana report.

" _Good. Inform me if any more appear."_ He moved his position to a corner by the window; it gave a pretty good view over the whole room.

Then a personal transmission cut in. _"Aile, have you refreshed your psychology programs yet?"_

If he could, he would have given a small smile in gratitude of R's concern. " _I haven't for this time. It was scheduled during this attack, you know."_

" _Then you'd better do it now. We seem to be in a lull and I can get a few of the volunteers to cover that plaza. Do you want to meet up with me somewhere?"_

He gave it some thought. What would be a decent place when they were under threat? " _Let's go down to the sea port. I doubt they'll bring any forces in that way, but it wouldn't hurt to take a look around there."_

" _Right, I'll meet you there in a few."_

Aile then switched over to the main line. " _Nana, this is Aile requesting permission to teleport to the sea port."_

" _I've heard,"_ she stated. " _Permission granted. Take care of yourself, Aile."_

" _Thank you."_ He went into the door that led to the inner halls, heading for a teleporter that was hidden away back there for maintenance workers. A minute later, he was much further down the tower, outside at the rarely used sea port.

Although much of the traffic was handled through air lanes, the designers of Giga City still put in sea ports for boats. There had been some humans who used this to take out pleasure boats and yachts. With the humans gone, Aile felt the only ones who came down here were looking for a private moment. The quiet made it a good place for his needs.

Six years ago, Aile had done work around Giga City as a bounty hunter, bringing criminals to justice. The official police were often inefficient, still getting used to the ever-growing city. Aile could get the criminals much faster. In that, he managed to get respect from the police and the citizens. But then he had experienced a massive force metal overload in a moment's lapse of reason. It had corrupted much of his movement programs, leaving him only able to control his torso and arms. And it had ruined his emotional center, making it impossible for his core to produce sensations of pleasure or happiness.

That left him clinically depressed. The solution was to depend on an external program that replaced those emotions. However, his internal security programs would periodically cut off those external programs in fits of paranoia. That meant that at least once daily, he had to uninstall then reinstall the medicinal programs in order to keep them effective. It was a massive hassle, but the alternatives held great risks or great costs.

Aile didn't dare work the program refresh alone, though. Usually nothing happened, but those moments when the programs weren't active held a risk for him. It was a time when he had to be in his perpetually depressed state, and a mistake there could lead to something he would regret.

After a minute, Chief R arrived. "Do you think it's going to be rough this time?"

"It could be," Aile admitted, waving to him. "It's been a while since I've been under battle stress. I think I can handle it."

"I see." He knelt down by him to be more on Aile's level. "But if you do falter, I won't hesitate to take control from you."

"I understand. Now anyways. Here we go." He touched a screen on his hoverchair and ordered the support program to uninstall.

His confidence began to falter shortly after. What if an attack happened while they were down here? R was supposed to be running their defense. And while Nana might be able to cover them for a while, what if Epsilon called? Or someone actually intelligent teleported in? With the radio interference going on, which had been blocking transmissions with the rest of the world for the past couple of weeks, there was no calling on the global governments for assistance any time soon. They were on their own.

Then, he got the alert that the uninstall had been successful. He set his viral scanners to run; that usually kept his internal defenses from attacking the support programs immediately. But then there was always the risk that he might get a virus on one of the installing drives.

R put his hand on Aile's arm. He was a good friend (that you don't really deserve) in that he was constantly supportive. While there were others who would help him on a refresh, few would have the patience to make it a habit. R had done so consistently for months at a time. But why did Aile continue to struggle uselessly in his crippled state… he was a broken reploid; why did he even dare to fight? They were relying on him and if someone cut the motor on his hoverchair, then he would be helpless to do anything.

True to his word, R took the install drive from Aile when his arms started trembling. Why should he bother? It wasn't helping him any. Aile felt like lashing out at him, but he managed to restrain that impulse. Taking his right hand with his left, he gripped it tightly so that he wouldn't turn it into the buster and shoot R. He had very nearly done so in bad times before.

The install went quickly, but it was another five minutes until the darker thoughts were finally banished from Aile's mind. He took R's hand with both of his. "Thank you. And, we may have to take further precautions as this fight continues."

"Could you try stronger programs?" R suggested.

He shrugged. "I could, but would you want me to? Anything stronger than what I'm using has the potential to trigger manic episodes. I'm not sure we'd want that in the middle of battle."

"True." R stood back up, then followed Aile around as they paced around the port. He needed a few more minutes to settle into the program's support again. "Based off this first wave being all mechaniloids, their strategy might be to wear us down over time."

"The old grindstone with mass production, is it?"

"Right. But we can't send out a strike force against that production until our volunteer forces are up to speed."

"How many of them did we get?"

"A large turn-out, thankfully, close to four hundred. The quality of that four hundred is questionable, though. It's never easy to turn civilians into combatants."

"But they will fight with everything they've got to protect their home."

* * *

 

The atmosphere of Maverick Hunter Headquarters was different. Axl felt it more than anything: how the office workers weren't chatting as much, how security officers were stricter, how everyone was tenser. As for himself, he seemed to be constantly busy. He'd been on a personal break when it all started. Now that he was the only active S Class Hunter around, he was being called in to more and more jobs.

And to think that a while ago, he would have relished all this attention. Axl couldn't forget why he was so important now. Zero was still under repair, having required a full body restructure after an almost successful assassination attempt. And X… Axl had conflicted with X before, true, but now he missed the blue Hunter.

At the same time as that catastrophe, Axl had nearly fallen into a trap of his own. He had been searching for his past and his creator for some time now. A month ago, he received a tip out of an intelligence officer that research on reploids with his chameleon ability had been done in Giga City. It was of the right time; the original engineers of the next-gen design were unknown. After some more checks, he had gone to the Melda district to look into it himself.

He had decided, against the suggestions of the tactician Redips, to enter the place disguised. That had proved to be his saving move, as he had been mistaken for one of the crew helping the Rebellion set up the trap that was to kill him. The interference had proven a problem when he tried to get out of Giga City, but he'd managed to do so without injury. But then, X and Zero hadn't been so lucky.

On a short break, Axl entered the repair wing to visit Zero. The workers there all gave him knowing looks and wishes of good luck. It wasn't an impulse decision to come visit. No, he had been asked to come speak with Zero. It was a risk and a great many people expected the old hero to go AWOL once the repair wing let him go. However, he had to be told, if he hadn't realized it himself.

In a small room, Zero was still suspended in a repair pod. It was fully enclosed, but a status screen displayed various graphs of his condition. And it showed that Zero had become alert to Axl's presence.

Axl smiled a bit, although he felt nervous. "Hey there. Getting bored yet?"

"A long time ago," a synthesized version of Zero's voice came from the monitor. "Did you get ambushed too?"

"Almost," he admitted. "But I made them mistake me for one of the ambushers so I caught onto the plot. They were going to arrest the intelligence officer who tipped me off, but he failed to report for duty after I came back. I've had a lot of work to do since, so I haven't got a moment to come visit."

"It was probably the same guy who told us that Lagrano Tower was safe. That rotten place is about to fall to pieces at any moment."

"It did, after you got teleported out of there. But they weren't able to get any clear satellite images of the battle."

"At least I got back in time to tell them that Shadow was a traitor." Even without full emotional inflection, Axl could tell Zero was still pissed off about that. "What about X? Nobody's said anything about him to me."

Here it was, the bad part of this. Axl took a deep breath. "They weren't able to make contact with him or pick up any signal from him. They sent in some probes to search for his body, but the site is too messed up and being watched. And since you last saw him on top of the tower knocked down, they changed his status this morning to presumed dead."

There wasn't an immediate response, but the charts showed show that Zero's stress level had briefly sharpened. Then he said, "Tell this idiot thing to not tranq me this time."

Axl looked over the screen and tried to figure out how to cancel the tranquilizer. "Why not?"

"It'll just keep doing that until I get released and I'll be all messed up."

For a moment, the graphs vanished as the warning sign came up, 'Putting auto-tranquilizers on hold: continue?' He told it to do so. "Okay, got it. Zero, are you okay?"

"Shut up. But stay there for a few so they don't go turning that back on." His stress level shot up again, as he was letting himself think about that.

Glancing back at the door to the room, Axl felt awkward. Zero was probably okay, since no one could actually see him right now. A nurse reploid paused by the door, but he waved her off before she said anything. They'd probably restore the settings once he left.

The stress level graph began tapering off, but not as sharply as if Zero had been hit with tranquilizer nanites. It was close to twenty minutes before he spoke again. "Axl."

"Yes? I'm still here."

"You keep at work, but avoid Giga City for now. And get some research 'roids we trust to take a better look at the situation. When I get out of here, you're coming with me."

"I am?" That was a definite surprise. Zero usually insisted on working alone, especially if it was something personal like this. "What for?"

"You are, and we're going into Giga City and deal with those Rebellion jerks once and for all. While we're at that, we'll try to locate X, even if we can only bring back his body. I am not leaving him there."

Axl nodded automatically. "Right. But the authorities won't like this; they'll be left with no immune reploids to deal with viral Mavericks."

"Screw them. If they want something done, they'll get out of my way. Okay, you can let the doctors take back over. I want out of here as soon as I can."

"Yeah. I'll meet with you then." On leaving the room, he found the nurse waiting down the hall. "He says to take care of him now and to do a good job at it." Not exactly, but that was the message.

"Certainly," she said. "And thanks. We weren't sure how he'd take that news."

"Yeah well, I think he's already plotting on going AWOL. But that's not really news to anybody, is it?" He smiled cheekily.

It might be news that Zero intended to take Axl with him.


	7. Raising a Resistance, part 2

Steel Massimo was battling near one of the air bus stations. The Preons were either attempting to take control of the station or trying to wreck it. However, they couldn't stand up to his large plasma blade. Skating around to keep up with them, he bashed in the head of one Preon, causing it to malfunction and collapse. He turned around, searching for his next opponent. His circuits seemed to be burning in anger at the senseless battle. And there, someone else with a lance weapon was in a battle posture.

Nana's voice came over the transmitter, snapping him to attention. " _Massimo, stop. You're going to attack one of your fellow fighters. Cool down before you go completely berserk."_

Again. Resisting his inner clamor for violence, Massimo stopped in his tracks and focused on something less important. Breathing; it was automatic, but thinking of that toned down his berserker impulses in nearly all cases. His mind cleared and the burning sensation calmed down to the normal tensions his systems carried. " _All right. Thanks Nana."_

" _You're welcome. Don't make me do that over the public line."_ Then she cut off for one of her many other duties.

The other Resistance fighter finally managed to finish off his Preon, the last in view of this area for this wave. That reploid was clearly civilian in origin, as his armor was all black and sleek with silver knobs, like a human in a business suit. Despite that, he was unusually tall at seven feet, with broad shoulders and a square face. He was still learning his weapon.

"Don't forget that you can pierce your opponent with the tip as well," Massimo told him. "Use the weapon's weight to your advantage."

The reploid straightened up on hearing the advice. "Oh, yes sir." Then he smiled. "Steel Massimo, it's an honor to work with a hero such as yourself."

Although he grimaced, his helmet covered enough of his face that it couldn't be seen. The guy didn't suspect that he could have been skewered a minute ago if Nana hadn't intervened. "If you think so. Who are you anyhow? We're going to be here a while and I don't want to shout 'hey you' around here."

"Me?" He bowed. "I'm called Butler."

"Butler?" Doubt dripped into his voice.

"Yes," he admitted, glancing down and blushing a bit. "I'm a servant reploid from Ulfat. And my former master didn't see much use in calling me anything beyond that."

"I see. Well it's better than 'hey you'. Go keep an eye on that gateway; I'm going to check out the warehouse over there."

"Yes sir." Butler went over to the booth where the Air Bus clerk usually worked.

Massimo knew already that it was working fine. Nana would have informed them if something went bad. Already, she had proved herself to be hyper-attentive, even in this multi-front battle. She hadn't called an all clear yet, so there might be a Preon or two hiding in the warehouse. He skated over that way, soon spotting the mechaniloid. It was hopping against the flow of the conveyor belt. "Idiot," Massimo grumbled, then used his hover jets to jump onto the belt. He landed with a heavy thump; thankfully, the belt only showed a few signs of struggling with his weight.

Noticing him, the Preon dashed forward, but slower due to the belt's movement. It made it an easy target to slice in two. Then he used his jets again to get off the belt before he got stuck.

" _Massimo, Butler, your area is clear now,"_ Nana finally said. " _Please stay in that area; we are almost all clear."_

" _Roger,"_ Massimo replied. He skated back out to the railing, which looked out onto the cloudless sky. Far below them, the ocean appeared to be black with some silvery hints of waves. That was the kind of place this was: bright and lovely above, but dark and dangerous below.

"Massimo?" Butler stayed by the clerk's office, but was close enough to talk comfortably with him. "Do you think that I could get stronger, like you?"

He caught himself from snorting in time. This guy was one of the volunteers trying to protect his home, after all. R had specifically told the experienced combatants not to disillusion any of them, rather to bring a trouble like that to him to handle better. Which, Massimo figured, was probably the best option. He wasn't socially adept like R was.

However, silence wasn't a better choice. He opted to tell part of the truth. "You don't want to be strong like me," he said sharply. "I could understand stronger. But not strong like me."

Predictably, Butler didn't get it. "What do you mean? You didn't really need my support here, and you haven't taken a break since this battle broke out yesterday. You're the strongest of the Resistance, at least in terms of sheer power."

"You've got that last part right. But why do you want to be stronger? You look buff yourself, and you handled yourself decently for a civilian."

"Thanks, I guess." His expression turned sad, which made Massimo regret asking. But no, he was supposed to attempt to get along with these volunteers. "But my physique is a bluff. I really am just a butler. I know how to plan dinners and match wines with dishes. I know how to run a household, host a classy party, and assist my master and his family in dozens of other fields. But I wasn't given much for security training. That was in the hands of the security guards."

Massimo frowned. "Then who were you working for, if they could afford to keep up a noncombat butler and security guards?"

"Dr. Hiram Lagrano," Butler stated.

"Oh, him. Prestigious human family, then. That's understandable."

"Yeah. But the security guards were no match for Incentas. He shorted out the electrical systems, flooded half the house, and burned the other half. He killed Dr. Lagrano, his wife Carrie, and their two kids. Even helping them hide in the panic room wasn't enough. I wasn't able to do anything…. But Incentas let me live because I was a reploid and he thought I would join the Rebellion." Then his expression turned to one of bitter hatred. "But I couldn't work with them! Not after what they did to my master and the family."

Despite himself, Massimo could feel some sympathy for Butler. And admiration. The younger reploid was going against everything he knew in an attempt to get some vengeance against the ones who ruined his previous pacifistic life. He still didn't want Butler to get the kind of power he held, one that held the potential for a berserker's insanity with every strike. But maybe more powerful, enough to make a difference and get noticed in the Resistance.

"Keep those feelings close, but not too close," Massimo said. "You were a servant, so you must have been instructed to be kind. Keep that kindness as well and don't let your desire for vengeance consume you. It could turn you into a monster like the Rebellion fools."

Butler nodded, and even smiled some at that. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

Smirking, Massimo deactivated his blade, then attached it to a hook on his side. "I can show you how to use that lance better. Don't fear damaging me; I can handle whatever you throw at me."

Looking surprised, Butler clasped his lance in both hands. "Sir?" On seeing his nod, he turned serious. "Okay Massimo, I'll try."

* * *

 

"Red Knight has moved to D5," a mechaniloid reported.

Epsilon was looking over the personal library of Dr. Lagrano. The mansion itself was a wreck, but he had specified that the books and records were to be taken intact and brought to his location. In these things, there were too many valuable resources. He treasured information. While he was looking over the books, he did pause to consider the chess game. "Your potential for loss has jumped to eighty-seven percent, Psyche." He went to the board to move a black pawn, then went back to looking for his book.

"What?" the scientific reploid asked, angered. "You can't know that! I've got a brilliant plan." He then studied the board.

"If you do, then you wouldn't be taking up so much time between turns." Epsilon liked chess. It had clear-cut rules and was deceptively simple. But after reading several books on chess riddles, puzzles, and master games, playing it was becoming something of a bore. He hoped to find some other kind of puzzle to keep himself occupied soon.

Perhaps Dr. Psyche saw the loss as inevitable too, since he started talking on other things. "Some people have complained that Silver Horn has been needlessly cruel to the prisoners of Tianna."

"They're looking for things to complain about. It would work against our ideals to cause pain to fellow reploids and I trust you all to know this. We are of the same mind when it comes to our goals. But if such things must be done, they must be done."

War was truly not optimal, but under the current social and political circumstances, it was the quickest way to get attention for his cause. Epsilon had to control the circumstances carefully, like obtaining both the city operator and the operating governor for full control over Giga City. And in his group, he knew he had reploids that he could trust. They all believed in his philosophy, although he felt it was best to continually reinforce and remind them of the principles.

"Of course, sir," Psyche replied. But that was a ruse. Epsilon had brought them closer together, and he was a remarkable leader. However, he was quite insistent on avoiding violence as long as possible. The scientist and others in the Rebellion didn't agree. They wanted more forceful methods employed, and they saw no problem with using violence to meet their ends.

Running a coup against him, though, was out of the question. Epsilon had the absolute loyalty of two of the strongest members, Ferham and Scarface. And he was stronger than them both. As if that wasn't reason enough, there were some things that only Epsilon could do right now. If they wanted to be stronger, they had to get into their leader's favor.

I will know those secrets myself, Psyche promised himself. He was smarter than Epsilon. It was just, chess was a different kind of problem than the ones he usually dealt with.

"I do have one thing to ask you," Epsilon said as he pulled a three-ring binder off the shelf. "One of the things the Resistance forces of Central Tower are complaining about is the number of deaths that occurred in Wavebreaker and Central. I did give the orders to use intimidation rather than actual murder, correct?" He gave this a slightly threatening tone, knowing full well that those had been his exact orders. "To drive the humans out and not massacre them?"

"Yes sir," Psyche said, doing his best to keep his tone even and obedient. "We did our best to avoid any deaths on either side."

That satisfied him. "Good. Then the eleven deaths were all accidental."

"Unfortunately, there were a few accidents," Psyche admitted. And the number was much higher than that, over fifty. There were some humans that, for one reason or another, other members of the Rebellion wanted dead. That infernal Dr. Lagrano, for one.

Epsilon allowed himself a short sigh of relief. "Good. Calling us Maverick is a sign of corruption in the global government, not us. I don't want to give them any ammunition to use against us in legal courts."

That wouldn't matter if one just blasted all the courts out of commission, Psyche found himself thinking. That was a tempting plan. But how to pull it off without Epsilon figuring it out? He moved his next piece, taking the pawn that had moved. "All right, your move."

Glancing over the board, the Rebellion leader stated, "Two moves and I will have a checkmate over you." He moved his next piece, seemingly not thinking it through.

Psyche suddenly found his position in the game much less secure. "We'll see about that."

* * *

 

It had been a long and stressful week. Aile was currently guarding R on route to a security station that was encountering problems. Since there were hundreds of Preons and other mechaniloids in every attack wave, there were the occasional ones that slipped elsewhere and weren't immediately found. Aile destroyed one of those as R had the computer read his security badge.

The door opened. "Thanks for noticing that one," R said. "I hadn't seen it."

"I don't miss my visual senses much lately," Aile replied, following him into the cargo elevator. It was a large square shaft in the center part of the tower. It wasn't that fast, but no one could teleport into here, or into the security stations. "Just every now and then, when I think it would be nice to see something clearly for myself."

R observed him, then asked, "Is something bothering you?"

"Something from my past; someone made me think of him today." Aile put his hand to his chest. "I nearly lost a partner once, back when I was a bounty hunter. I might have told you already, but if you don't mind…."

He nodded. "Go ahead. We have some time." And to keep him stable with his support problems, R knew it was best to let his friend talk out his troubled thoughts.

"Thanks. Well we had just taken down a berserk project from the Lagrano Labs; it was me and Spider. We got word that another of the lab's reploids was causing problems, one named Deo Midas."

"I recall hearing of that one, the shapeshifter."

"Right, that was it. Deo Midas was a particularly tough foe and had been a pet project of one of the Lagrano researchers. But you know how those labs work; we're lucky we came out all right."

R's parrot shook its head as the leader rubbed his forehead. "I'm keenly aware of that. Their scientists worked in committees too much, so every project had a chance to be turned over to a totally different engineer every single day. And they didn't always share notes, or even the same methodology."

"It may be why we're having such troubles now. With him, either the combination of engineers was bad or the whole idea itself was flawed… at any rate, Deo Midas quickly turned to crime and wreaked havoc through several districts of Giga City. I figured I might be okay with Spider; he's a Melda reploid, and they were always more careful with their projects. He was a little reckless, but you expect that in new reploids. But then…" Aile's voice drifted off.

"Then?" R asked after waiting a moment.

"I'm not entirely certain," Aile admitted. "I can't be certain. We started off fairly well against Deo Midas. But then he got desperate and sent a metal ivy at Spider, which very nearly destroyed him. It certainly took him out of the fight. Then my partner told me to take his force metals and take him down with one powerful blow. That was a mistake."

"You didn't check your resistance factor against his metals?" He knew some of this story, but there were already a few pieces that R hadn't heard yet.

"I knew my resistance factor, and I knew I could have handled his okay. I could handle my own just fine. But I didn't realize how many I had equipped at once when I took Spider's metals. I remember the intense pain when I next attacked our target, and then it all became a blur of madness. Apparently I defeated Deo Midas but the overload crashed my systems. Spider managed to bring me to a repair engineer for care after he took the metals from me, but then he disappeared. I've been handicapped ever since, so I haven't been able to go look for him."

"I see. He might have blamed himself for that." But there was another possibility.

And Aile seemed to recognize it. "It could be that. I'd almost like it to be that. But we were battling a chameleon reploid and I'm certain Spider was in really bad shape when he gave me his force metals. Yet he got me back to be repaired. I worry about that from time to time, but I have not heard anything about Deo Midas." He rubbed his neck. "I did hear about Spider again, quite recently. Apparently he's still doing bounty hunter work around here. But why hasn't he come to check on me? I've been busy helping you, so I couldn't go do that myself."

"He was your friend?"

"For a little while, yes. I worry about what would happen if he gets hired by the Rebellion. If I remember him right, he wasn't particularly picky about what missions we took."

"Hmm." R considered what he knew. "I've heard of that one. But he usually doesn't work around Central Tower. It would be nice if you could get a hold of him, even if just to talk."

"It would be." The elevator stopped, allowing the door to open. "Now's not the time, though. We've got a lot of work to do."

"Right." R smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, though."

* * *

 

Deo Midas. "Yes I was part of the team that brought him and Ninetales down," Spider said. "What's it to you?"

In the Tianna District, one of the Rebellion Cadres was meeting with a number of mercenaries. The group of them, Spider included, had come in to find work. Some agreed with the Rebellion philosophy; some were hoping for power in the form of rare force metals. For himself, Spider was drawn by the money. They were offering a lot to the mercs.

That presented something of an issue, although he neglected to mention it yet. Where was the Rebellion getting their money? They had to have something profitable going on, or it was all empty promises. It could even be that the Rebellion meant to sacrifice the mercenaries on the battle front, to deflect the blows from the government and even some ragtag Resistance group in Central Tower. While it could be lucrative, it was certainly a risky gamble.

And Spider's bluff was that of a gambler. He wouldn't take this risk unless he had a way to hedge his bets, a means of backup in case the Rebellion hand went bad. He didn't gamble so much as skew chance to his favor. Which was why he was here, letting himself be recruited into a potentially rotten job. The rewards were worth it.

The Cadre, a rotund brown reploid with speakers in place of weapons oddly enough, looked at him with a chuckle. "Deo Midas was an insignificant failure," Botos said. "But you were hired to take down two reploids made in the labs where many of us were built. We don't want to bring in folks who'd want to take revenge for Dr. Lagrano's death by destroying us. So you're not about to become a turncoat on us, right?"

"That was the past," Spider said, brushing his violet hair out of his face. "And it was just a job. I don't really care what you're asking of me, so long as the price is right. In that case, you have my loyalty in hand."

"I see. As long as you do your job well, you'll get paid equally well. Now since all of you seem to be in on the deal, let's discuss the issue, hm?" After checking over their reactions, he continued. "You won't be working under me for this first job. You'll be working under Wild Jango and Incentas, who are in charge of the actual invasion of Central district. We've spent a week softening them up, so it should be a cake walk. You will receive some payment up front in case you need to equip yourself or attain some tool. You will be given a starting location, but most of you will be free to move as you see fit. The local interference is downright awful some days so we can't be babysitting you. Now the major goal of this scenario is the capture of two individuals: the city operator Nana and the operating governor Chief R. The rest do not really matter, but they will get in our way."

Was that a week softening them or a week spent stalling against their defenses? Spider couldn't really tell. But getting some payment up front was good. That always gave him the option of bailing if something went bad.

But then, there was Deo Midas… was Aile still around? And where was he? That could change things in an instant.

* * *

 

Nana noticed when the invasion wave turned different. " _Everyone, we've got another round of invaders, this one including reploids. Be ready for a tough battle."_ Then she started sending information to various fighters. Including Wolstien, who was in the control room with her. " _There's two reploids and a dozen Preons coming in from the heliport."_

" _I'll be in the hall,"_ he said, having figured out that speaking to her didn't always work when she was busy.

Wolstien flexed his hands as he entered the hall. There were four doors here: the one he'd come through, the one just ahead that led to the rest of the tower, one to the right that led to an exam room, and one to the left that led to the air bus station. If they were coming from the helipad, they'd come in the door right in front of him. He stayed in front of the control room door, figuring that the narrow hall worked to his advantage if he could bottleneck the invaders at the opposite door.

Thus far, that had worked. But this was the first time in this siege that reploids were involved in the Rebellion side. That could change things.

When he heard the clanking steps of the Preons, Wolstein summoned a haze of steam around his body. It had the effect of lessoning fire and water elemental damage, as well as making it harder for opponents to hit him. He prepared himself for battle.

It did not do much. He barely lasted a minute when faced with a large shoulder-mounted lightning cannon. "Stop 'em dead in their tracks," the mercenary joked.

"Show off," the other merc snapped. "I was hoping for a good battle too. All well. Let's grab the girl like we're supposed to." They went into the control room.

Nana noticed them, of course. But she also knew that she didn't stand much of a chance against them. How had these strangers gotten the authority to enter the Governor's Precinct? Since the badges appeared authentic, there wasn't anything she could do to stop them.

She could alert the others. " _The invaders have killed my guard and are about to take me hostage. Resistance members, I am giving you the digital keys to operate the weaponry that you are using currently. I am also doing what I can to slow them down and lock them out of much of the city functions. The area of Shaft 999, 211 Plaza, and Shaft 367 will be off-limits to them for now so if you encounter too much trouble or you cannot fight, retreat to those areas. Do not let them take you easily; otherwise, you are giving in to their violent plans. Goodbye."_

Cutting off her control of the city in time, she turned to see her two captors. The one with the cannon grabbed her out of her seat. "Hey girl, you're coming with us. The Rebellion had greater plans for you than your Resistance does."

"I don't believe you understand," she said in her usual calm voice. That had been programmed into her, a higher resistance to panic and fear.

"It's not of concern to us," the other said. "You're to cooperate with us or we can knock you out cold so you do cooperate." Then they dragged her back out to the helipad.

* * *

 

Steel Massimo had battle comrades before. None like Butler, though, a civilian doing his best in a large battle. Yet, he stuck with this volunteer. Now to see how well he had trained this one. "Butler, come with me," he said, skating into the shopping area. It was a long curved hallway which spiraled upwards, with several shop counters and many vending machines along the way.

"Yes sir," he replied, following after easily. "What are we going to do now? Nana's gone."

"You heard her; all the non-combatants are going to retreat to the safe zones. We need to keep the Rebellion forces from noticing."

"But weren't…?"

"Shh. They don't know that." 'That' being that the shopkeepers had removed as many goods as possible from the store, emptying all the registers. "What force metals do you have equipped?"

"Resist, Strength 3, Speed 3, and Protect 3," he replied.

"Good." This guy seemed to have a high resistance level to FM erosion, which really put things in his favor. It made Massimo wonder about something. But later, they were busy.

As he'd thought, three reploids came in from the upper doorway. One gave them a cocky grin. "Hey, look who's come to meet us: a big slow guy and some novice." He fired his buster gun.

"Don't make assumptions," Massimo growled, then dashed over and pierced the speaker in the head with his blade. He collapsed instantly. "Butler, watch the other end."

"I'm on it!" his voice called out from lower in the hallway.

* * *

 

Aile patted R's arm. "I'm okay now. But I did have a brief suicidal thought."

His friend sighed. "Is it becoming less effective? I agree that we don't want you on potentially manic-inducing programs now, but we can't have you turning suicidal on us either."

Clenching his fist, he replied, "Well I'll do my best to not die for a dumb reason. And I may try one of those stronger programs anyhow. Not right now; my rest period is coming up. After… that." He held up his hand.

"I see," R said in a neutral tone. Then he sent a personal transmission, " _What is it?"_

" _I sense something off. Some electrical signal…_ " then he recognized it. "It's a distress signal," he stated aloud, moving his hoverchair down to the docks themselves.

R followed him down and out past the concrete barrier. Floating on the ocean's surface, there was an old boat loosely floating against the dock he was walking on. A reploid's body was in there, his blue armor badly cracked and barely holding together. Oil stains were spread across bottom. "Oh dear. I wonder what killed him."

Aile checked the body carefully and… there! "He's alive, actually," he told R. "Amazing he managed it, but he's under hibernation to conserve energy. And I sense an active force metal on him; it might be working to protect or repair him even now."

On hearing that he was alive, R carefully got into the boat for a closer look. "There's some algae and mold growing around the cracks of his armor. From that, I'd guess the incident that caused this would have happened around two weeks ago. That's when Lagrano Tower collapsed, on the night of that storm." He rubbed his chin. "Curious."

"If he's that determined to stay alive, we may as well rescue and repair him," Aile stated. "Can we spare the resources?"

"I'm sure we can." He touched the side of his head. "There should be a small cargo truck we can load him into, to get him into repair." R tried to brush aside some of the growth to see where most reploids kept an identity marking. "Can you get a RIN designation or identity off him? His armor is too messy for me to read."

"Not from here. It's difficult to assess what his occupation is by looking at his signals." Aile read it over carefully again. "However, the structure of his armor seems to be designed for combat. We might be able to ask for his support in exchange for the repair."

"Maybe. It's his choice in the end."

* * *

 

X's body felt numb, but he knew there was wide-spread damage. Despite that, he hadn't let the repair pod fully sedate him again; he had things to think on. Like the loss of two great Hunters. After this mission, he had wanted to recommend them for A Class instead of B. Wedge and Biggs deserved that, not to be cut down on a false mission designed to trap X instead…

And there was a big question that came up regularly: where was he?

The answer to that might come, as the repair pod noted the entrance of the nurse reploid assigned to watch him. "Hello in there," a female voice came to him. "Are you okay? Do you need me to turn the auto tranquilizers on again?"

"No, I turned them off," X told her. He couldn't speak himself, but he could direct his words to a speaker on the pod.

"You did? Why?" She sounded puzzled, as if this were unusual. So it might not be a Maverick Hunter facility, even though they disliked that being done.

"Some of my squad members died recently, due to a traitor," he said. "That causes inner tension, which causes the auto-tranquilizers to go off until you fall asleep. Then when you wake back up, you remember that and become tense again. It messes you up when you finally get out, so we figured out it might be better to turn it off for some time, depending on the person."

"I see. I'm sorry about your friends; we only found you."

"I just need some time to consider it. I'll turn it back on when I'm ready. Where am I? I was last at Lagrano Tower of Giga City."

"Ah. You're still in Giga City, in the Central Tower district. Chief R and Aile found you down by the sea docks. They guessed you had been adrift for two weeks, and it's been another two weeks since then."

"I see. That explains the time discrepancy."

"You were lucky to have a love metal; those things are amazing, and yours managed to run your self-repair programs while you were in hibernation. But it drained your resources and your body is still in bad shape. I'm sorry, but our own resources are strained and things have been going slowly." She laughed softly. "It's almost faster to just let your own body work on itself."

"That's to be expected. I can offer some assistance if they need it and even do some of the repairs myself. But that would require me being alert during the repair session."

"If you believe you can handle it. What's your name, by the way? I'm Cera."

"Hi Cera. I'm X."

"X? Of the Maverick Hunters? Then were you… no, the Resistance formed after the interference."

Resistance? "Pardon?"

"Oh, you see, there's a Maverick force calling themselves the Rebellion. They've taken over most of Giga City in the past year, including Central Tower two weeks ago. Some parts have managed to remain independent, as Chief R formed a defense group to protect the citizens living here. The Rebellion has tried to squash us as their resistance, so that's what we became called, the Resistance. I know it's a bit confusing. But people here see the difference sharply."

"I see." Considering the situation, he stated, "So Chief R found me? May I speak with him? I understand if he's busy with security and defense, but he could come to me when he has some time free."

"Sure, I'll send word to him. I think he and Aile will be glad to hear that you've recovered enough to speak. Can you… well, if you can turn the auto-traq off, you can figure out where the nurse call function is. Just send the word and I or whoever's on duty will come by to check on you."

"Right, I've got that found. Thank you Cera."

"You're welcome. You should get an advance notice of whenever R decides to come. I'll leave you to your thoughts, then." She left the room.

He was still in Giga City. And there was a chance that the Rebellion would think him dead… and so would everyone else back at Maverick Hunter HQ. Had Zero gotten back alive? X remembered seeing the Rebellion forces teleport away. But he couldn't tell if Zero had done the same.

He hoped he had gotten away.


	8. Raising a Resistance, part 3

Aile watched Chief R as he was talking to someone in transmission. He had a smile on his face and was getting up, causing his parrot mechaniloid to flap its wings. Turning his hoverchair from the desk, Aile approached him. "I hope you don't intend to leave this area. I'm sorry R, but it's for your own good."

He shook his head. "No, I'm staying in Shaft 999. I got word that our mystery patient is alert enough to talk. He asked to meet us."

"That's good. Did we find out who he is?"

"Yes. It's X."

Aile dropped his arms onto the chair and leaned forward. This was amazing, almost unbelievable. "Really? We've got X in our care? That's great. Even if he doesn't help us directly, it will give us a link to the global governments."

"True. But we'd best go soon, to see if he's still alert."

They traveled down the curving halls to the area they had blocked off for medical work. It was quite busy, as many had been injured in the continual waves of Preons that the Rebellion sent against them. However, the two of them managed to quickly get back to where X was being kept. His status screen showed that he was alert.

Aile stopped his hoverchair near the pod while R adjusted the speaker unit. "Hello X. This is Chief R and my assistant Aile is with me; I heard you wanted to speak to us."

After a moment of quiet, the pod synthesized his voice, "Ah, yes. Hello, I am X. You're the operating governor of Giga City currently, correct?"

R nodded out of habit. "That I am, but most of the city is out of my control."

"You're still the local authority and I felt you should know why I'm here. Over a month ago, myself and four others from the Maverick Hunters came into Giga City on a mission to eliminate the members of the Rebellion. The original plan was to enter by way of Lagrano Tower and use that district as an away base."

"Lagrano?" Aile asked. "That place was a wreck even before it collapsed."

"I know," X replied. "One of the squad's members, Shadow, turned out to be a Rebellion sympathizer. He or someone else tampered with the mission data and gave us that location as a suitable spot. We suspected something was up when we saw it for ourselves, but we went ahead and scouted out the location. It turned out to be a trap: four members of the Rebellion, including Epsilon, attacked us when we reached the top floor. That battle was what caused the tower to collapse."

"I see," R said. "That is unfortunate. But you can trust us; we've been working against the Rebellion, for we do not agree with the methods they are using."

"I've heard that. I know two of my squad members were killed in the tower. The fifth one was my friend Zero; he might have gotten back the headquarters, but I'm not certain. The interference was terrible that night. Since I'm still in the city, I might see what I can do about the original mission, even just gathering more reliable information."

"All right," R agreed. "We'll help you how we can, but I should warn you that the interference is as bad as ever and this district is under continual waves of attack by mechanlioids. I believe they're trying to weaken us and break our resolve. It's getting tougher from day to day."

The graphs displaying X's condition flickered in places; perhaps he was worried about that. "Hmm. I hope I'm not drawing too many resources from you."

"You're fine. And I sympathize with losing your fellows. We'd rather not draw too much of your energy on this, but is there anything you need to ask about now?"

"Some things, but it could take time to get through. I just wanted you to know about my mission and that we are moving against the Rebellion, not the other citizens of Giga City. I don't know what the Hunters have done since then about this situation, but I'm sure they're trying to get something accomplished. And thank you for taking me in. I know I left myself to chance when I went into a temporary hibernation, but I didn't have much choice after falling off the top of Lagrano Tower."

"You wouldn't. It's no trouble. What is it you need to know?" He glanced at the energy bar, which showed that X was fairly alert at this time.

X paused to consider it, then asked, "Chief R, Aile, may I ask you some specifics on the Lagrano Laboratories? I saw some things there that concerned me."

"Very well. What do you want to know?"

"First of all, who ran it? I had some information before the mission began, but I want to double check it."

"That's easy. Dr. Hiram Lagrano was the chief engineer and researcher. He was a human, but he had many human and reploids working on research with him. That's why the tower was so tall; they needed all that space."

"Okay. Were the upper levels more lab space? Because we only ran into a Lab A and Lab B, but many of the upper levels were complete wrecks."

"Yes, but there was the division of Lab Groups A, B, and C. Hiram worked primarily in Group A, while Group B shifted leaders. Group C worked with lesser projects, like basic soldiers, vehicles, and advanced mechaniloids."

"They had a lot of engineers working there too," Aile added. "It always seemed like someone was leaving or someone new had just arrived."

"Were there personnel problems, or office competitiveness? Even if it's been abandoned for years, I found some graffiti, more or less, insulting one of the lab groups."

R put his hand to his chin, thinking. "Yes… I'm sure there was. I left the labs just a few months after I was activated, but there were a lot of staff changes over the years and there was always gossip about arguments going on there. For instance, I know the chameleon ability researcher left the lab shortly after one of his creations was activated."

"Chameleon ability?" X asked. Aile noted that his alertness had managed to go up; this must have been something of interest to him

So he answered this time. "Chameleon reploids were supposed to be a big breakthrough. Through a mixture of special metal alloys, stabilizers, and other systems, they could theoretically mimic anyone they met. It was part of the next-gen design from a couple of decades back, I think. However, Lagrano only tested one reploid, Deo Midas, before the researcher who knew the most left. Who was that, R?"

He shook his head. "I couldn't keep track of all those engineers. There was a big fuss about it because a fight had broken out between researchers at that time. Not that it was the first time. Professor Gaudile indirectly caused rumors of scandals when he defected. Even though they had built him there, Gaudile left well before the end of Lagrano Labs due to disagreements with Hiram and others. I don't know personally, but I've heard several people say it was too many strong personalities clashing that led to the end."

"That would happen. And what happened to destroy the tower as we found it?"

R answered, "Again, we only know what we've heard, but… Hiram put a lot of effort into designing and building Epsilon, but then something went wrong. Some say Epsilon had a malfunctioning ethics program with a genius greater than expected. Others say that Hiram was infuriated when Epsilon formed a philosophy that directly opposed that of the lead researcher. Whatever it was, Epsilon had already gained followers in the other reploids that had recently been built there and they attacked the lab personnel. By the time the rest of Giga City found out, the tower was already unstable and abandoned. Dr. Lagrano himself refused to give a statement and went to work in the Tianna Mine district instead."

"Is Dr. Lagrano still alive?"

"No. He and his family were killed by the Rebellion a few weeks back."

"That makes sense. I hope this doesn't insult either of you, but did Lagrano Labs focus primarily on combat reploids? That's the impression I got; even though one, Dr. Psyche, was listed as a research and development reploid, he was in a list of combat models."

R hesitated, so Aile took that one. "It's tricky to answer that one. Psyche is definitely a combat reploid; he's been witnessed doing as much damage as his peers in the raid on the human residential areas. And then there's R here who, along with a few others, is not a combat reploid. However, he was originally designed as a military tactician and commander, of the sort that would be in your organization. R simply chose to turn his abilities to civilian means instead, running the city instead of running an army. And the others that weren't direct combatants, like Gaudile, were meant for military positions like weapons development and maintenance."

"Yes. We've managed to convince three of our peers to join us, but many others are within the Rebellion."

"I see. Then it would appear Lagrano Labs was doing military work. However, I hadn't heard of them being hired to do so. They're listed as a private company."

"I've wondered that myself. Like me," Aile clasped one of his wrists in a nervous gesture. "Once I got handicapped, they stopped contacting me. Didn't even offer to repair me, as if I were a failure they didn't wish to acknowledge. Fortunately, that was after Chief R defected, and he took me into his care. We've been good friends ever since."

"I guess I had the same problem as Epsilon, if certain rumors are true," R added. "They wanted me to study and use military tactics. I never got a straight answer why, so I did my own research. That led me to realize that I didn't really want to lead an army. I'd much rather be here in peaceful times, assisting people live better lives, than to be locked away in a military base, designing plans to destroy enemies as efficiently and completely as possible."

"I can understand that myself," X stated. "I've stayed because my job is important, but I have taken short retirements, mostly to clear my head. As it seems, Dr. Lagrano's goals could be something to look into. That's it for now; I need to rest up so I can help them do work on me. But thanks for the information." His stress level seemed lower, so maybe he was pleased. "And the talk. You two seem like good people; I hope we can be friends after this."

To that, R smiled. "The same goes for you."

Aile reached out and patted the pod. "Thanks, we'll be looking forward to that. And we'd better get some rest as well. Sleep well, X."

"You too. I wish you the best in your efforts."

* * *

 

Being alert while under reconstruction was never a pleasant experience. There were painkillers, but one could still feel things move which shouldn't be moving in normal circumstances. But this wasn't the first time X had to deal with it. He had to assist the repair engineer on some of the more troublesome damage. Today, it was the dash jets in his legs and feet. "That directs the energy to the soles, which give me a slight hover capacity during a dash. Some of the lines are ruptured or weakened; I need around sixty percent functional to maintain balance, so we should focus on replacing or repairing the ruptured ones."

"I see. A little inefficient, isn't it? To have more than you need; I've noticed that about a lot of your systems."

"It may look inefficient, but I'm not stopped by injuries that would incapacitate other reploids. It's better for survival to have redundant systems."

"There is that. All right, let's get to work."

After several more hours of this, the engineer stopped as they both needed the break. They were close to completing the repairs that needed assistance, so X could soon be ready for release. His self-repair systems were taking care of their duties and the love metal was doing a great job of assisting. While his movement was still limited, it wouldn't be that way for long.

Sometime after he had been returned to the repair pod, he got notice of a visitor, Aile. "I hope this isn't a bad time," he said. "But I don't have much time myself lately."

"I can talk for a little while," X said. He checked the visuals, as his eyes were working now. "Huh. My sight's working now; I didn't realize you were using a hoverchair."

"That's fine." He touched his face, which oddly enough did not move. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, so you should know that I've lost control of my legs and head. I had a bad case of force metal overload one time."

"I see."

"It was something of an accident. Technically, I could be considered an FM Maverick now, as it affected my emotions as well. A lot of my programming got fried in that incident. However, I've got support programs that keep me operating in a relatively normal manner."

"That's good. Have you considered getting an overhaul to repair it?"

"Yes, but that had problems too. Only a few engineers are capable of that, so it would be an immense cost."

"Right, and there's always the chance of altering your personality wildly in any overhaul like that. But you seem to be doing well despite it."

Briefly, he formed a fist. "I wasn't made to give up." Then he relaxed his body and arms down. "I hope this isn't too personal, but I was wondering about your peers from Lagrano. Who were they?"

"Them? It's okay; I've had time to mourn them. They weren't from Giga City, and were older than that. Biggs and Wedge, two brothers who joined us nine years ago. They had a strong relationship and worked remarkably well together, so I requested them to join my unit. They were great Hunters, both in completing their missions and in their behavior on and off duty. It's terrible that they died on a mission that had been designed by our enemy to kill me."

* * *

 

Wild Jango did not like this job. He was a jaguar reploid, a model meant for wide open spaces, for quick speed and wild combat. Here, he was inside a tower filled with narrow halls, curving passages, and small plazas. And just what was he doing in this cramped tower? Ordering about mechaniloid soldiers and keeping civilians in line. He'd much rather be in battle himself, but he was currently the only Rebellion officer here. At least he could take his frustrations out on the dumb civilians who were with the Resistance. Epsilon didn't want anyone hurt, but then he hadn't yet asked what exactly Jango was doing.

"Have you captured the operating governor yet?" Epsilon asked over the conference call. Since it was on a Giga City based network, the interference was minimal.

"Not yet," Jango growled. "They're keeping him just out of reach. However, I have a plan for that."

"Good; we need him for full control of the city, so get him quickly. How are the mercenaries doing?"

"There's only one left. The rest all got themselves killed or they abandoned our cause. That's what you get for trying to depend on those greedy money-grubbers."

Annoyingly, he didn't look too perturbed at this. "They were simply extra muscle. We've got an alternate city operator station set up, so once you capture the governor, abandon the tower."

"Abandon it?" Jango asked. "Why? There's still that pesky Resistance force around."

"Once they lose their leader, it should crumble. It's mostly civilian volunteers, so it was never meant to last. Besides, that district stands as a sign of human arrogance and extravagance. We have no need for it any longer."

"Fine."

But after the conversation ended, Wild Jango got to thinking. He despised this building so much after being stuck here for nearly a month. And there was that whole 'sign of human arrogance' blah blah blah, whatever, that Epsilon was going on about. If he were really running things, Jango would not just abandon this place. He would demolish it.

And if he were careful, Epsilon might mistake it for something else. The Rebellion leader was a charismatic genius, Jango would admit that. But sometimes he was too naïve and trusting.

* * *

 

On his rest break, Butler took some time to read a book. It was something he used to do a lot in the Lagrano household, when all the humans were asleep. And it was reassuring in its own way, a moment of normalcy amid a time of battle. But he wasn't sure if he could ever have his old life again. Maybe he could get hired for his job with another family, but the memories of death and destruction would stay with him.

He sighed and tried to focus on the book. He was supposed to be relaxing. However, he found it hard to sleep. That led to dreams and his dreams were terrible lately.

"Butler," Massimo called out.

"Hmm?" He looked up from his book and saw a peculiar reploid in the room with him. There had been no effort to clothe or even skin him, so plates of bare metal were all over his body. And he had a bestial human design so that, while he stood on two legs, he had features like a long square jaw that seemed almost demonic. But, he had his hero's eyes and voice. "Massimo? Is that you?"

"Indeed," he replied. "Come with me."

"Yes sir." He put the book down and left the room with him. "Why are you out of your armor?"

"Things need to be done before we lose all control in this battle," Massimo stated, determination showing in his pace and tone. "However, there is an element of psychology that must be considered. I'm trusting you with this secret, so don't tell anyone."

Feeling confident in that Massimo would trust him like this, Butler smiled. "All right. You have my word of silence."

"Good. I am going alone to raid Tianna Mine Camp, in order to rescue Nana and the other prisoners. You are going to take this and stay here." He brought Butler into a side room.

And 'this' turned out to be Steel Massimo's armor. The front half of the armor was whole, but the back had split open. At the shoulders, the arms had disjoined and the legs were partly split. Butler felt astonished. "Yo-your armor? Sir, is that really okay?"

"It is necessary," Massimo said. "Many of our dedicated fighters have fallen in this drawn out battle. The civilians here all see me as a hero, their protector. But what they see is that armor. Few people have seen me like this. You will take on my name and this armor to stay behind and protect the citizens. Give them hope that this conflict will end well."

There was a part of Butler that was positively giddy at the thought of becoming Steel Massimo, a strong and fearless hero. But then, could he really pull it off? "It sounds like a good plan," he said. "But can I operate this armor? I've heard of terrible consequences for reploids who try to use incompatible parts."

Massimo took his shoulder. "Stand up straight and look at me." When he did so, they were eye to eye. "You've got the same body size and general shape as me, so it should fit you. And the programming for the armor is written in a common language. If you can get inside and get it to secure itself to you, then you should have no difficulty. There's instructional programs still installed that will help you run it. Go on and try, but take off any force metals you're wearing first."

Getting in wasn't hard. He had to step into the leg sections, which was like putting on stiff boots. Then Butler slipped his arms into the sleeves. Massimo instructed him to rest his lower jaw on the top of the neck guard and then attempt to silently instruct the armor to close. And it did, accepting his commands without hesitation. The legs locked up and the arms moved back into position. The back right third came in first, extending some metal straps to hold his body into a better position. Then the back left portion closed in to lock into the smaller part, followed by the panel with the stabilizer fins to make sure everything was secure.

And it wasn't nearly as heavy on him as he thought. The armor didn't need him for support, as it was supporting him. Butler tried to bring his arm up and flex his hand; it responded naturally.

The real Massimo seemed pleased. "I felt you'd be a good match. There's three force metals with the armor; are they working properly? Can you connect to them?"

"Let me see…" he queried the armor about its metals and it gave him a dutiful report. There was an Anti-Grav Boost metal (which explained how this armor was able to jump at all), a Protect 20 (he didn't know such a high level one existed), and a love metal. Huh? "You left your love metal equipped. But, it's not bothering me."

"Good, I was most worried about that one." He waved his hand dismissively. "Keep it; I can manage without it and it would do you more good. Now the other two are built into the armor itself, so they cannot be removed. The armor has only two open slots in it, but it overrides your natural metal slots, so don't try equipping any more than that."

"Okay." Butler smiled. "I think I can handle this."

"I'm sure you can. There is one last thing I'd like to talk about before I go but it's personal." He put his hand to his chin, thinking. "I've heard your story, so you should hear mine. The truth is, I'm not a hero."

"How can you say that?" Butler asked, astonished. "Everyone around here admires you. You've helped protect all the citizens here; we couldn't have gotten this far without you."

"That doesn't make a hero," Massimo argued, seeming quite serious about the matter. "I am a war machine. I was designed and built to destroy nations and help instate an iron-fisted rule. The world has been at peace for a long time and the most violent uprisings in the past century have been those of Sigma. People are starting to idealize war again, having been separated from its horrors. Even in this place, it can be seen. War is coming and this may only be a prelude.

"But my heart wasn't fully into war. I've done terrible things, Butler. I've killed about as many people as the entire Rebellion has. I came here originally to hide from that past and my purpose. When conflict came here, I answered the call as my duty, not as a hero. If it is in my power to defend those who cannot fight, I'll make the effort to do so. That is why I'm going into Tianna Camp. The Resistance is weakening and we have few tricks to help us, if we have any at all. We need a new advantage, so I'm going to try making one."

"That's very brave of you, sir," Butler said. "But, you were made just for war?"

"That's it. That's the reasons behind all the power I wield. That's the reason that the armor you're wearing was built for. But I don't want to delude people anymore. If they see a hero in that armor, then I'd rather there not be a war machine underneath. You're much more suited for that role."

Flabbergasted, Butler took a step back. "Me? But sir, you know me. I'm really just a coward. I can fight alongside you because you give me strength, and I can manage against the Preons, but…"

"You're going to have to stop using the word 'sir' now," Massimo chided. "People will use it on you. And I think you are braver than that. You just need the chance to prove it to yourself. For one thing, are you having any problems yet?"

"Um… well no." He brought his hands together. "It's responding naturally."

"It does. But you see, you can handle the force metals built into the armor. I couldn't."

He focused on them again, but they were working normally, causing him no reaction. "I didn't notice any problems in you."

"That's because I was only slightly above my limit. Force metal overload causes pain in your systems, like a burning sensation. And it makes you feel like you can do anything, without any consequences. You didn't see it… only Nana did, but I was constantly battling myself as well as the enemies before me. I have gone berserk several times, and destroyed many lives and properties doing so. I am not a hero because I am too dangerous to protect civilians. You can handle the armor's metals and then some. You know kindness and you have the drive to improve yourself while protecting others. You can do this better than I."

"I'll try, but…" all his enthusiasm about this plan was gone, to be replaced with anxiety. "Are you sure you can handle Tianna Camp by yourself?"

"I'll be fine." He tapped his forehead. "In fact, I feel clearer than I have in years. Now come on, Steel Massimo. You've got to escort me to the teleporting chamber. I doubt anyone will question us if you're with me."

"Right. Let's go." He escorted his mentor to the teleport chamber, figuring out how to walk and skate with the heavy armor. He also had to relearn what his height was, as he had to duck in doorways to fit through them now.

In the halls, several civilians stepped aside for the two of them to pass, smiling but uncertain of the threatening-looking 'stranger' with Massimo. But one came up to them, confident enough in him to not be scared. It was a little girl reploid who had a green dress armor and red pigtails. "Hey Mister Massimo, do you have some time to play with me?"

Butler wasn't sure who she was, but Massimo replied quickly. "We've got mission plans to discuss, Annette. Don't bother us."

"Maybe later," Butler added, not liking to disappoint the child.

"Well, okay," she said reluctantly. "But you come play with me later, right?" Then she darted off into another room before he could give an answer.

Massimo tilted his head towards where she'd gone. "That's the only other person close enough to me that might notice the switch."

"She's a friend of yours?" Butler asked. This day was turning out to have a lot of twists.

Shrugging, he replied, "She attached herself to me after the Rebellion killed her mother. She doesn't have a father, so the other parents have been looking out for her. But I got her out alive, so it's not easy to ignore her. Annette's a reasonable girl, so she should accept you."

At the chamber, Butler wished the real Massimo good luck and watched him fade away. And then, the job of protecting his fellow citizens fell to him.

* * *

 

Another one of the security stations was reporting problems. As it was, Aile felt it was necessary to bring along two other Resistance fighters to escort Chief R. They made it to the elevator fine. But it would only take a moment for things to go bad.

"Gray, you check the elevator itself," Aile ordered. "When you're certain we're clear, call us in. Black, you watch that end of the hall."

"Yes sir," they both said and went to their appointed spots.

R shifted his stance, giving a glance to his parrot. The mechaniloid squawked softly, giving him an affectionate head bump. While the action made him look nervous, Aile figured he was most likely embarrassed at having to need three guards. But without Nana around, and the Governor's District off-limits to them, he had to respond to these calls personally. In his current operating conditions, R was restricted on combat ability, so he needed guards.

"Elevator's clear," Gray reported.

"Let's go," R said, moving ahead. Black and Aile followed behind him.

Aile kept his senses peeled for unusual activity around them. The shaft was clear. So far so good. Stopping at the station's level, Aile moved towards the door. On the other side, there was Wild Jango. Sparks glinted off his claws as he rushed forward and impaled Gray in the chest with them. There was a flash of electricity as the young Resistance fighter was fried from the inside.

Shooting Jango in the head, Aile felt one of his darker tones creep in past the support programs. He should do everything in his power to keep R out of Jango's paws, even if it would be the end of him. He tried pushing it and anything else interruptive aside. It was a battle like any other and he could not lose focus. Like any other, save that his best friend was in grave and immediate danger.

Although hit a couple of times, Jango next attacked Black, firing a ball of electricity at him first. Then he slashed across his face and kicked at one of his armor ridges. That knocked the plate out of place, allowing the jaguar to duck and slash into the reploid's body, killing him in the same manner as Gray. Next, he leapt over to the last fighter.

Aile unleashed a charged shot at Jango's eyes, keeping him from making the full jump. Once he recovered, the Rebellion fighter snarled, slashing Aile across the face. "Why are you even trying, you broken reploid? You don't stand a chance against me, so give up." He next cut into Aile's buster and shocked that, keeping it from firing properly.

A shrieking beam struck Jango in the side, catching him off guard. Looking over, he saw that R's parrot had flown off his shoulder and launched the beam attack at him from a barrel hidden in its beak. Jango wasted no time in putting that parrot down. Then he grabbed R by the arm and fired a binding burst into his systems. Before he collapsed, the Rebellion fighter lifted him to over his shoulder.

"You're coming with me, Governor," he said, adding sarcasm to the title. Then he left the elevator with R and sent it back down to the last floor it had been on.

Aile had lost.

For a moment, suicide became a tempting option. He had failed his duty; they had lost R. They didn't have much left. There was Steel Massimo still on their side, but with his history as a berserker soldier, they couldn't fully rely on him. And he seemed different the past few days. They had some good research reploids. But they were researchers, no good without professional fighters.

And there was X and Aile. Trying to shake off his impulses, Aile moved over and picked up R's parrot. The mechaniloid squeaked and shifted its balance, but then collapsed into Aile's lap. Even in this dire situation, they had a secret 'weapon' on hand in the Maverick Hunter. Jango may have thought him useless (maybe he was) but he had to keep himself together now. He would have to take over for R until they could get him rescued.


	9. Recapture Central Tower! Part 1

X woke up without pain. That was a definite improvement. Considering the injuries he had sustained nearly a month and a half ago at Lagrano Tower, his overall recovery was remarkable. He would have expected that at the Maverick Hunter labs, where they knew his systems and had the proper equipment. Not here, at a previously civilian facility that hadn't even known his identity when he was brought in unconscious.

From his observations, the love metal Wedge had discovered by accident had helped a great deal. Not only did it safeguard his programming, but it helped reroute extra power to his self-repair systems. It even appeared to have some decision making ability; looking over the records, it favored certain systems early on to help his condition stabilize, then to help him survive. His own self-repairs could do that on some level, but not like this. It seemed like a knowledgeable engineer had guided them, when that was clearly not the case.

But the force metals had no conscious, had no ability to think. Maybe it had stirred his mind to make decisions subconsciously. X was disturbed at that theory, though. The metals had no mind, but could influence reploid minds if that were true. The love metals might have an even greater effect because their boosts were so vague. As he had been in great pain, his had sought to repair him. But what if a reploid's subconscious influenced the metal? Would that be why many went Maverick, because the metals were bringing out desires kept repressed? That could make them more dangerous than he thought, and he had already considered them a potential threat.

X had things to do, though. He wanted to assist this Resistance force against the Rebellion. Although they hadn't said so, he felt they expected this. After all, they were looking towards the same goal. It would benefit both sides if they formed an alliance. Besides, he had no luck in contacting the Maverick Hunters yet. They most likely considered him MIA, if not KIA already. This volunteer stint would have few repercussions on the official side of things and he knew how to smooth those objections out.

After giving himself one last check-up, he signed his own release form, and then tracked down one of the healers for a second signature. They were busy, though. When he finally found the nurse Cera, she was by Aile's hoverchair. "Oh X, you're up. If you don't mind, could you help me get Aile out of the pod?"

"No problem, if you could sign on my release form after." He set that aside and came to the repair pod.

The cover slid back, revealing Aile with a new scar on his forehead. "Sorry to trouble you with this," he said, a bit groggy still.

"We don't mind, Aile," Cera said. "X, you support around his waist; I have to make sure his neck is positions properly."

"Okay." He got one arm around Aile's waist, then held onto his shoulder with the other hand in order to pick him up with the nurse. They then set him back in his chair, the nurse putting a special neck brace on so that his head was supported, but his body could move around in its limited ways.

Aile clasped X's arms once he was set. "You seem to be back in shape. That's good."

"What happened to you, Aile?" he said. "You could have stayed in longer to fix that scar wholly."

Brushing his hand against it, he knew about it. "I could have, but I have a lot of work to get done. This is just cosmetic damage. Cera, could you help with my therapy program refresh? Normally R would, but…"

She shook her head. "Sorry, but we've got a lot of patients and a smaller staff than we should have." She looked to him. "Sorry to start you off with things to do, but could you help him, X? You should be qualified for that."

"It's okay, you have other patients to attend to. I wanted to talk with him and R as it is."

"Okay then. Oh yes, your release form." She signed it, then took the paper. "I'll get this to the filing clerk then. Take care of yourself, both of you." Then she left.

"We'd best go to the office," Aile said, turning his chair around and leading the way. "But, R is gone. He was captured by the Rebellion forces just a few hours ago. That's why I was in repair."

"I see. Then we should make locating and rescuing him a top priority, right?"

"You mean to help us?"

He nodded. "Of course. Our goals are the same and I owe you for my rescue and repairs. It's my thanks to you."

While he couldn't nod back, Aile did a hand motion that might have been gratitude. "You're welcome, and we're glad to have your help. But I need a clear mind, and for that, I need the program refresh."

"Your systems recognize the therapeutic supports as a foreign entity?"

"Yes, so I delete them out of my system daily, run the security checks, then reinstall the supports. That helps to keep my firewalls from randomly deleting them when I don't expect it. But in that time, I'm a different reploid than you've seen. I might lash out, so you might want to keep quiet so I can resist better."

"All right."

He paused as they came to the door of the medical area. "But let's try to keep R's capture quiet. I don't know if the Rebellion has announced it publicly or if rumors have gotten out. Our force is largely civilian reploids, all volunteers. We've lost a lot of our main fighters during this siege."

X nodded, then walked alongside him in the hall. There were several ways to go here: up one curving hall or down another, or down three straight halls. Taking the straight one to their left, Aile waved to a couple of guards and asked how things were going. There wasn't much to report, which seemed good. X suspected the Rebellion might try an elimination strike, as other groups would have done with the capture of a leader. Or maybe they were confident that this volunteer force couldn't last long without a head.

"Do you know who's in charge of this battle on the Rebellion side?" X asked.

"Yes… a Lagrano reploid named Wild Jango. He's fast, a user of electricity and metal claws. He's not as strong as others in the Rebellion in terms of defenses, but that doesn't matter much when he attacks first." His right hand tightened into a fist at that.

"It's often that way. So how are the current Resistance forces?"

"We started with close to four hundred and thirty fighters with around sixty various support staff," Aile said, unlocking an office. "The specific numbers are in a file somewhere. But only twenty-six of us fighters were professionals of some sort, compared to all the supports being in their proper jobs. We've lost seventeen of the experienced fighters, leaving us with nine including me, ten with you. Of the civilians, we've lost just over a hundred of them, either to being destroyed or being unable to handle the stress of battle.

"We're left with not quite three hundred, at least fifty more currently in repair with others recuperating from injuries. And this battle has dragged on for six weeks now. A number of the civilians not in our force have left the safety zones too. I can understand why, as they've been cooped up for so long and the battles are less frequent with the Rebellion occupying the Central District. But some have turned up murdered with specific damage patterns we can link to Jango." He sighed. "And they say they're working for the good of all reploids."

"A lot of extremists claim that as rhetoric to excuse their actions," X said, glancing around the office.

Much of it was neatly organized, like the shelves of items and books along one wall. And most everything was clean, like the large screen that was opposite the door. Near that screen, the mechaniloid parrot that had been with R looked up to them, then scrunched itself back down on its perch, looking miserable. The office had a look of frantic activity, though, as papers were spread out on one desk, a pen was lying on the floor, the chip wiping container was partly full, and plastic sorting bin was partly off a counter. Taking a second to push the bin back in place, Aile opened up a drawer and pulled out two items.

"They can try to excuse it, but it's still wrong. Here. With what's going on and you helping me for the first time, I'd rather be put in a bind status in case I act rashly. And this would be the support program I'm using now. Are you able to make sure I run the security check and start them if I'm slow at it?"

He nodded. "I can handle that." He took a moment to examine the prescription label on the drive. This was something one didn't see often. However, it caused him some worry. "Are you and your doctor sure about using this program? It seems rather strong for therapeutic use and could trigger side effects like manic episodes even in a reploid like you."

Aile put his hand to his chest. "I've been fine so far. I did try to avoid using that program, but the safer alternatives just weren't cutting it with this siege. Especially not a situation like this."

"All right, just checking." It didn't take him long for him to find the appropriate port, on Aile's left arm. X set up a transmission contact with the hoverchair and found that it was capable of monitoring its user's activities. Pulling up a chair to sit by him, he applied the bind injector into Aile's right arm. "Whenever you're ready."

Once Aile purged the support program, his mood plummeted and his stress levels shot up extremely high. No wonder he was using a potentially dangerous support program to counter it. X would have diagnosed him as clinically depressed just looking at his current internal stats. While he managed to start the security check, Aile grabbed hold of X tightly with his left hand. "Don't put that back in," he said, the synthesizer managing to put a threatening tone to his words.

X didn't know exactly what Aile was thinking then. The wrong words could set him to doing something drastic. For the moment, it seemed like his earlier advice was best: stay quiet. And calm.

"I'm a broken incomplete reploid," Aile said. "I don't know why you all keep me going, but it's better if you just let me stop. Even if you transfer me, I'll never be whole, so just let me go. Sometimes I think R was being cruel in his kindness." He struggled to bring his right hand up and form it into a buster. "Stop right now…"

The security check was done. Quickly, X twisted his wrist to grab Aile's arm and make him let go, then put the download drive into the port. Aile cursed about that, but with the bind overload in his systems too, he couldn't fight back easily. X took hold of his other hand too, just in case.

For several minutes, it was tense and silent in the office. Aile struggled against the emotional support, his suicidal thoughts still holding on. Once he let those go, his body relaxed and his systems began to return to normal. And he had to do this every day too, X thought. The force metal overload didn't turn Aile into a Maverick, but it did ruin him permanently.

"Sorry about what I said," Aile said, sounding calmer. "I know I must continue for the sake of R and everyone else."

"Like you said, it wasn't you," X replied. "Do we know where they're holding R?"

Giving a negative gesture with his hand, Aile said, "No, but I've already got people looking into it. We were trapped at a security station, but I'm sure Jango moved elsewhere. I suspect they're in the Governor's Precinct further up in the tower, as that's where the Rebellion has set up here."

"I've never been in Giga City myself. Do you mind showing a map and explaining the areas to me?"

"No. We've got one right here; let me bring it up." He went to the computer to find the holographic image, then projected it onto the screen to explain the battle lines.

* * *

 

Do something.

Aile straightened up in his hoverchair. An hour ago, he had come to a break room for a rest period. This latest purge session had been brutal on him and he had tired shortly after. But now, he felt a strong feeling that he should be doing something. Something… what? He didn't know, but something had to be done.

Yes, do something. R needed to be rescued. That was Aile's highest priority when it came to his private thoughts, although he probably should reassure their troops first. But no, things were going to fall apart with R. Aile was going to fall apart without R. He had failed to protect him, but he would not fail to rescue him. He had to go rescue his friend.

The binding effect was fully gone from his arm, so Aile left the break room. He was met with a messenger. "Oh sir, there's good news. We've found where they're holding R; he's in the Storage area of the Governor's Precinct. But they plan on taking him elsewhere in several hours."

Aile gave him a thumbs up. "Excellent. I'm going to scout ahead. Make sure to tell X about this; I last saw him in the office R and I were using. Tell him he can take anyone he wants to help, but that we've got to get R back soon. And if he wants to suggest something, let him, since he's more experienced than anyone else here."

"Of course sir," the messenger said, saluting. But as Aile went on, he called out, "Um, sir… you seem a little different."

He waved that concern off. "It's nothing, don't worry about me. I've got things under control."

Yes, things were under control. He could go rescue R and redeem himself of his failure earlier. Aile wasn't broken; he was just handicapped. He could still make for a dangerous foe, especially when he felt as driven as he did now. Yes, it was a marvelous feeling. With the confidence to do anything, Aile would prove that he was not worthless. He would show that Wild Jango!

Humming a battle song, Aile left the Shaft 999 safety zone.

* * *

 

The situation the Resistance found themselves in was indeed tough. X read through the data files and considered what could be done. Most of the time, reploid tacticians had been designed to be tacticians, like R. Most reploids were designed for one field; if they were lucky, they were designed for a number of related fields, like management and tactics. X didn't have to deal with that limitation, although he often left tactical and office work to others when he was needed in the field. The Resistance needed help everywhere.

Although unsure of how much authority they would grant him, X started devising a plan to recommend to Aile in order to rescue R. Time was of the essence, and they would need to act fast when they knew where R was. "I could pinpoint several spots to hold prisoners," he thought aloud, looking over the map of the Central Tower district, "but Aile seems to think R would be in this area." The Governor's Precinct was higher up in the tower, around floors 150 to 155. It included a city command center.

"Rah," came a cawing reply. The parrot mechaniloid flew off his perch onto a rod on a small set of drawers. He (maybe a he) cocked its head at X.

X tested to see if the mechaniloid would let him touch him. The parrot ducked back, but did nibble at his hand to get a sense for him. "You're pretty upset, aren't you? Mechaniloids are kind of like animals, and animals have been known to show intelligence." He put his other hand to his mouth. "I wonder. Do you have any combat capabilities? I might take you on the mission to rescue R."

"Squaw!" The parrot opened and closed his beak a few times, letting X notice a weapon of some sort hidden there.

"So you do. I think I will take you along. R should be happy to see you again."

Delighted at that, the parrot bobbed up and down, causing X to laugh. Then someone came into the office, a reploid with gray and black civilian armor. "Here you are. X sir, I have some news on R. Our intelligence agents have located him "

"Great," X said, followed by a whistle from the parrot. Then he looked to the map. "Then where is he? I'm not familiar with the area, so use the map."

"Sure. He's here," he pointed to an area on floor 153, two levels below the command center. "This location is used primarily as storage, as part of the maintenance areas. But they plan on taking him out in a few hours, so we need to move."

"I agree. Did you tell Aile?"

He nodded, but looked worried. "I did, sir, but… he said he was going out on patrol, but he was in a strange mood. Normally he's quite calm; he seemed restless and overly eager to do things."

X bit his lip. The support program probably had triggered a manic episode in Aile. With him out like that, the mission would be more troublesome. "I see."

"He did tell us that we should recognize you as the commander you are, so if you have any ideas, we're ready to follow."

He nodded. "All right. I feel as though I should go after R myself; the Rebellion reploids are more likely to be up there. But I do have something that can be done in the meantime. It's… let me double check this list." He went back to the computer, pulled some names off the Resistance files, then handed them over. "If you can get these fellows to gather in the upper plaza of this area in fifteen minutes, ready for battle, I'll have the mission information ready for them."

Bowing, the messenger took the list. "Yes sir, I'll get a hold of them right away." He checked it, then left to find them.

Fifteen minutes later, X entered the plaza to find that twenty-four had reported. That was all the ones he had asked for; that was a good sign for the rest of the Resistance. They came to attention as he walked towards them, several looked awed or surprised that he really was joining them. Waving to them, X said, "Quiet. Thanks for coming so promptly. I am X, Maverick Hunter and commander; I'm working for your side on behalf of my organization.

"Now, I would like the group of you to carry out a raid in Rebellion territory. They have a maintenance area nearby where they are repairing their Preons so they can stay in battle longer. We need it out of their hands, although capturing it for our own use is preferred to destroying the machinery. The latter is an option if things don't work out. I can't say how much longer this siege is going to last, but I'm heading out shortly on my own mission higher up in the tower. If I succeed, then we may regain the whole district. It's also possible that we will have to hold up here for longer, hopefully not too much. Now, Kratos."

A reploid with spiky red hair raised his hand. "Yes sir?"

"You're going to be the mission leader. Divide the group up into four under yourself, Mercury, Yellow Sunbee, and Crystal Clarissa. There are three entrances to the facility; send one group each into the side entrances and two through the main. Your enemies will be mostly Preons, but there may be a reploid or two overseeing them. After you have most of the area secure, send one of the teams out to secure the hall and elevator to Shaft 999. If you do really well, go ahead and claim the whole floor, but the repair area is your priority. If we don't take that, this mission will be worthless. Do you understand?"

Kratos nodded. "Yes sir, I got it."

"Any questions from any of you? Please make it brief, though." After a couple of questions, he departed to let them take care of that mission. It was primarily a diversionary battle to draw the Rebellion into sending forces there. But it would be a good step if things went bad on his end.

* * *

 

When R recovered, he found himself in a small room with a computer station. He was alone, with not even a mechaniloid left to guard him. However, he was also not properly healed and pain pulsed through his torso where Jango had put the paralyzing nanites into him. He was able to see that there were two doors to the room and the chair for the station. But nothing else was in the room.

Getting up slowly, R checked on the doors. One opened to an even smaller closet with various boxes. The other was locked. Knowing that maintenance sometimes had disguised doors to their tunnel system, R checked the walls. None of them had hidden doors. While he was in the closet, he noticed an anti-bind repair kit and a healing kit. R took those as he went back to the computer, using them to counter the pain.

He checked into the computer, wondering if he could get into Giga City's network. But it stopped him right away with a password screen. He tried his governor password to no effect. After going through twenty or so passwords that he knew about, he had to admit that the Rebellion had set up this security.

So, there wasn't much to do. R decided to go through the bins, just in case something else useful had been left there.

* * *

 

Kratos brought his group and Yellow Sunbee's to the hall that led to the main entrance to the maintenance area. There was a black Preon in front of the door, bearing a shield and a gun arm. With it were four mechaniloids that had double machine guns instead of arms. In their combined groups, they had twelve reploids. This shouldn't be so bad.

Glancing to the other squad leader, he gave her a grin. The flying insect reploid grinned back, looking confident. The two of them went way back, back to before they had come to Giga City. It wasn't a good past, though. They had been accused of being Mavericks by an angered boss who didn't approve of them having dreams beyond their old mundane jobs.

Although they were innocent and proven so, even the accusation caused problems for them. Kratos had managed to get other jobs, but all were more demeaning than his original position, paying far less. However, Sunbee had a unique design and was eligible for even fewer jobs. Her strength wasn't enough for manual labor and messenger services preferred to use mechaniloids. That and the constant harassment got to be overwhelming, but they didn't have the funds to request the Maverick investigation to be taken off their public records.

They had come to Giga City in hopes of starting over. It was said to be an excellent place for displaced reploids like themselves to find good work. And it had been, for a while. But then real Mavericks in the form of the Rebellion came out. Those who wanted honest work and honest lives found their lives restricted by danger and violence. So they had quickly agreed to R's request to help start the Resistance.

And now, under the orders of one of the Rank-S Maverick Hunters, they were getting ready to make a big raid in the name of the Resistance. They had already made plans to attempt to get a pardon through X instead of payment from the Resistance. Even though the money would be nice, the pardon would be so much better.

" _Squad 3 is in position,"_ Crystal Clarissa reported.

" _Squad 4 is in position too,"_ Mercury added.

Kratos nodded. _"All right folks. Remember our order: eliminate the Preons, take control of the area, but do not harm any of the machinery if possible. Now let's go!"_

He burst out of hiding along with a few other close combat fighters and tore into one of the Gunner mechaniloids. The black Preon squealed in alarm, then pointed at Kratos. "Eliminate him," its mechanical voice ordered.

The Gunners clicked in obedience and the remaining three turned to face him. Kratos dashed aside, drawing their line of fire away from the main group. Then Sunbee summoned her tiny bee mechaniloids, three dozen of them, and ordered them to attack the Gunners. They buzzed in, sending points of extreme heat into joints and ports of the mechaniloids, causing several malfunctions. After dodging several rounds of fire, Kratos jumped back in and attacked the black Preon. In a few more seconds, the five enemies were all destroyed.

Leading a charge into the facility, Kratos checked around. " _Sunbee, take your group into those rooms over there and clear them. We'll work on clearing this large area."_

" _Roger, sweetie,"_ she replied.

Some of the others snickered at this, but the amusement didn't last long. They had a lot of work to do, as partly repaired mechaniloids got up with fully prepared ones in order to fight against the invasion of 'their' space. Then again, this could be fun.

* * *

 

Central Tower wasn't designed on a grid. Its hallways were corkscrews and straight lines; its plazas were rarely four-sided. As X was making his way up, he was finding a lot of cover. And not in the form of rubble either. There were many large planters with overflowing plants along any hallway meant for regular traffic. Many other decorative features were scattered about: lighting posts, laser sculptures, water features, and vending machines of all sorts. In lesser traveled hallways, there were often offshoots, dead end areas, and hiding-hole gaps. He opted to avoid as many fights as possible. R's parrot seemed to comprehend this and kept quiet as he flew after.

As X went along, flickers of yellow light caught his eyes every now and then. But he ignored those. It was his holoscarf, a special armor add-on that projected a fluttering stream of yellow light, imitating a scarf worn with long ends. Mostly, it was a vanity item. However, it had been a gift from a friend and he had gotten used to wearing it. The only times he turned it off were when stealth in dark areas was required, like the failed mission that had brought him here.

Pausing by a public computer console, he saw a red logo flashing a warning. Touching it, it related that a fight had broken out in a warehouse area in the 900 area. That would be his distraction force, he thought. Wishing them luck silently, he moved on.

X came to a blank hallway next. Hearing a noise, he ducked into a short hall and hid behind a column; the parrot landed on his shoulder and looked around. The area turned out to be a dead end and the noise turned out to be some patrolling Preon Chasers. He knew they were easy foes from fighting them at Lagrano Tower. However, he didn't want to prematurely alert the Rebellion to his presence.

After waiting for them to pass by, he left the dead end for the door the bots had come through. There, he spotted several civilian reploids wandering around a plaza. The plaza itself was quite nice, with large windows on the south side, decorative flower beds all around the edges, sculptural lighting features for nighttime, and a playful multicolored laser display in the center. However, the civilians seemed tense.

"Hey, did you hear that Chief R of the Resistance might be missing?" one male in blue armor said. "Do you think it's a rumor or what? You'd think the Rebellion would boast about that." He paused, looking curiously at his friend. "What?"

"Um." The other male (in red armor) was looking at X and the parrot mechaniloid. He seemed uncertain of who he was, but was leaning towards him being a threat with his battle-class armor.

"It's okay, don't worry," X said calmly. "Have you happened to see anyone unusual today? I mean, besides me."

"What do you mean by that?" the red armored male asked warily.

"I saw Aile some time ago," the blue armored male answered. "He was acting weird, though. He always seemed so calm, but he was humming a strange song and trying to get into the Governor's Precinct. But the Rebellion has taken that over and they'd kill him if they found him."

"That's who I'm looking for," X said, careful of letting them know his full goals. "I know he's been acting erratic, so I'm trying to get him back to safety."

The red armored male then decided to trust him and nodded. "Right, right, Aile's the handicapped guy who needs assistance or he'll go off the deep end. You'd better find him quick then."

"Well you might be helped in that there's no shortcuts to that area now," the blue one said. "The Air Bus is out because all the pilots and technicians went into hiding or joined the Resistance. And the teleporters are all cut off too. Your best shot at catching up to him is to go down that hall," he pointed to a door on the east wall, "and up to the maintenance plaza at the end of the line. There's a door there that will lead to the maintenance tunnels connecting to the Governor's Precinct if you go upwards. Head down and you'll wind up back around here."

"Hope that he doesn't get into that area," the red one said. "You need a special ID or password to get there."

"I see. I'll try to catch up then. Thank you, sirs."

Before he could leave the plaza, a large screen suddenly popped up behind the large windows, startling several of the civilians. The face of Epsilon appeared, looking calm but serious. "Attention citizens of Giga City. It has come to our attention that government agents may have infiltrated our city in attempts to undermine our noble mission. Please keep alert for any strange reploids, particularly ones that may be affiliated with the Maverick Hunters. We will do everything in our power to keep you safe, but our attention must be kept elsewhere. Thank you." The screen then floated back to its storage spot.

"Meaning, they don't care enough about Central Tower to send any helpful troops here," the red armored male said sarcastically.

"I'd be right happy if one of those Maverick Hunters showed up to clean up this corrupt city," one female said.

"Shhh!" her friend said. "Jango might be listening in."

"Well you say you're looking for Aile," the blue armored civilian said, stretching his arms up behind his head. "So you've got to be working for the medical group, right? Couldn't confuse you for a Maverick Hunter then." He grinned and winked.

X smiled back. "Right. I need to get going." He left through the east door and dashed down the empty hallway. Fortunately, the parrot had no trouble keeping up.

After he left, the red civilian gave his friend an odd look. "What do you mean by that?"

"Seriously? You didn't recognize him?" He put his arms down and shrugged. "All well. Ignorance, or at least the pretense of it, might keep us safe from Jango's sadistic streak."

* * *

 

It was like he had thought. The mercenaries that the Rebellion had drawn in were just extra muscle and cannon fodder. Blinded by greed, most of them had died even though their opponents were little more than a ragtag group of mostly civilians. And only one was left, the one who had come in with the most caution in mind. That was, of course, Spider.

Funny thing though. He adjusted his black hat as he thought on it: several of them had not died to the Resistance. They had died at the hands of their commander, Wild Jango. The jaguar 'roid was capricious and liked to tear things apart. If you happened to have bad news and he was not in a good mood, your chances of coming out of the meeting alive were next to nil.

It wasn't like he hadn't considered leaving. Of course Spider had considered that, several times. But he stuck on, and not just because of the phenomenal pay he was getting. He had big plans for which he needed to get close to the Rebellion, but not sucked into it. Patience was key. The payoff would be spectacular.

There was just one hiccup in his plans so far and it made him uneasy. It was Aile. He was here, still hanging onto life. Sure, he wasn't in the same state he had been in years ago when Spider had last seen him. But what should he say to him? He had played out a reunion with Aile in his head many times before; quite a few of the scenarios had rather bad endings. Part of him wanted to avoid Aile at all costs. But then, curiosity still burned within him about how the other would react…

A door slid open. Curious; Spider was on a balcony overlooking a maintenance platform. Few people should be up here and here were two others besides himself. One was a fellow he'd been ignoring as unimportant: a large bulky reploid made for manual labor that had been lugging pieces of junk into dumpsters minutes before. And the other was an unmistakable male in blue battle armor and a yellow holoscarf. X was here. He was accompanied by a reddish-brown parrot mechaniloid that, if his guess was right, properly belonged to Chief R. As of several hours ago, the Resistance leader had been captured.

Hadn't there just been a bulletin about Maverick Hunter infiltrators? And here was one of the best in the very heart of the city, glancing around to gauge the situation. With the parrot's presence, his rescue plan was unmistakable. A smile crept onto Spider's face. This was convenient, for him. He prepped one of his explosive card weapons and checked out his target. From his perch, it was an awkward angle to hit the Hunter…

Then the laborer somehow managed to get the same idea as Spider. "Hey, you're X, aren't you?"

X acknowledged him briefly with a glance. "Yes, what of it?" His posture suggested that he didn't intend to stay here for long.

"I had to call you in to the city's authorities," the guy stupidly said, causing Spider to put his hand to his face and grimace. "I don't mean to make trouble, but don't you think that you, as a reploid, should support the Rebellion's noble goals…"

Ugh. Spider was getting sick of those recruitment speeches, the high-intellectual talk to support an excuse for violence and war. Not only that, but X was backing away from the laborer, glancing at another door. The laborer was at a better angle from Spider's perspective, so he swapped targets and sent his card at the idiot. With pinpoint accuracy, the card hit a weak spot in the junky armor the guy was wearing and exploded, destroying him in one shot. At that, X activated his buster arm and looked right up at him.

Spider smirked. "Trust me, I didn't do that for you," he called down. Then he jumped off the ledge, giving him a better space to fight in. The parrot squawked in alarm. "The guy was getting on my nerves."

X might have been willing to give the laborer the benefit of the doubt, but he seemed more wary of Spider. "Who are you?" he asked. "And who are you working for?"

"The name's Spider," he said, touching the brim of his hat. "I'm not with the Rebellion or the Resistance. But if I were to bring your head to the former, I'd make a pretty penny." He started prepping his next card.

X narrowed his eyes. "A bounty hunter then," he said, his words taking a slightly sharper edge.

But still nothing intimidating. Spider resisted laughing; that was bad form. "Well, well, that's quite a grasp of the obvious you have there. Now let's rumble!" He flung his card at X's face.

And X actually shot it out of the air and dashed off. That was quite a feat, one that Spider hadn't seen before. He dashed as well, trying to get between X and the door he had been eying previously. It wouldn't do to have his mark get away. Spider threw another card at him.

Again, X nimbly got out of the way and fired. But this one landed on Spider's shoulder, knocking him back some. Okay, reassessment time. He'd figured that even though this guy's age would give him lots of experience and skill, his weapons would be underwhelming. Not so as even his basic attack still had some kick to it. This time, he might have bitten off more than he could chew.

Yet, the challenge was refreshing.

Spider had built up a good supply of weapon energy, so he took a gamble and used his card generator's special attack of Shuffle. It brought up five random cards which would pull together to get a random hit. Getting three nines was decent, so he fired a three round card shot at X. Although it hit, the Hunter didn't wince a bit. He shifted his armor's colors to some obscenely loud mix of pink and orange, then fired a flurry of strange small darts at Spider. He attempted to block, but a great many of them dug into his armor and released electricity-bursting nanites into his system. Great, a binding attack.

Pushing his will to move his body, he brought out another card and prepared to throw it. But then X dashed right at him, causing him to attempt a sidestep and a card slam right to the neck area. The bind nanites wouldn't let him and he ended up stumbling to the ground. X didn't even pause in his dash, going straight through the maintenance door and whistling. Obedient, the parrot flew after him into the interior of the building. By the time Spider could shrug off his bind status, X would be long gone in the maze of curving passages.

"Clever old 'roid," Spider grumbled, getting back to his feet. As he did, alarms started blaring, flashing emergency lights. The laborer's call about X must have gotten through. "Not that I could do much good with these alarms screaming at us. The Preons should be coming in soon."

Still… he might want to check in with the crazy jaguar about this recent turn of events.


	10. Recapture Central Tower!  Part 2

Incomplete, cowardly, invalid, broken piece of **** who doesn't deserve to live.

Aile frowned, a little bothered by the nasty thought invading on his good mood. But as he sat in the maintenance tunnels looking at the entrance to the Governor's Precinct, he was finding some trouble with making himself go in there. Wild Jango was there, for one thing. But so was R.

But I can do something about it, part of his mind sang. I can do something. Even if my life isn't worth struggling on to. I fight it every day, and I fight these Preons every day now, so… there were others who could handle it better. But do something.

And then some rational parts of his mind would manage to break through, telling him that he was behaving and thinking erratically. This made him dangerous to himself, to others, potentially incapable of completing this self-given mission. He should really calm down, head back, and try to regain control of himself. However, those rational thoughts would soon be ripped apart and he knew he just had to do something, even if it were dangerous. Because he should of died years ago when fighting Deo Midas.

Did he actually win that fight? That shapeshifter had expressed the desire to rule the world and annihilate anyone who stood in his way. And he had seen Spider ripped apart by metal vines, when Spider had taken him back for recovery… if Deo Midas hadn't stolen Spider's form too. Aile just could not remember that clearly. He mostly remembered the force metals.

The force metals giving him the power to annihilate anyone who got in his way. Without them, reploids could only do as they were designed to do. Sometimes they even struggled to do that, like Aile had struggled to defeat that Ninetails character. But force metals changed that. You could become anything if you had the right force metal. And if you got one powerful enough, there was nothing you could not do, nothing to stop you from doing it. That power… sometimes Aile wanted that power back. Perhaps with force metals, he could walk again.

But force metals were the things that fried his mobility programs in the first place. At any rate… Aile shook his head, looking at the steam that came up from the heated pipes below the walkway. That wasn't important right now. What was important was rescuing Chief R. But he wasn't capable of doing that. Going against Jango would likely get him killed.

Not that it would be an entirely bad thing if R could get away. But he had promised he wouldn't die for a dumb reason, and fighting Jango alone was dumb. Maybe if he went back and got X. Yes, that was the thing to do. Go back down and get X to help him.

Turning around, Aile headed back down the maintenance shafts. They were wide enough for his hoverchair to pass through comfortably. Then again, this place had been made to comply with the highest building codes, so handicapped humans, few that they were, could get about easily. Or maybe just the silly rich folks who used golf carts to get around instead of walking.

Fortune was with him, though. As he came into the main tunnel network, he encountered X and R's parrot. "Aile, there you are," the Hunter said, followed by the parrot's caw. "I heard you wandered off; you should be more careful."

"I went on patrol," he insisted. "I'm fine. But we've found that R is being held in the Governor's Precinct just ahead."

"Right. Can you get me into that area? I heard it was secure access only."

"Sure, it'll accept me and whoever I say is okay. But just in case, take this." He detached a magnetic jewel ID from his chest, then handed it to X. "Security should let me inside with or without that."

"I see. Thanks." He tried to put it on, but it slipped. "Ack…. I've always had trouble with these magnetic badges." He managed to get it on by placing it just so.

"Wild Jango can be heartless and cruel," Aile said. "He digs his claws past your armor and overloads your electrical systems. It reminds me of other cruel fighters… I'm not really that good of a bounty hunter, which may be why Lagrano never wanted me back."

X came to his side and put his hand on Aile's shoulder. "Aile? I think you should head back to the safe zones. You don't seem to be in a state to be fighting. I can handle rescuing R."

Tightening his fist, he replied, "No, I want to help. My failure got R captured and I have to make up for it. And I can! I feel ready to fight anybody. But I thought you might help."

Although still reluctant, the choice was soon out of X's hands. There was a hum and metallic skid coming from the other end of the hall. Three Preons appeared there, but three highly unusual ones. One was black and wielded a blue plasma blade. The other two were taller, red armored and bearing short green blades. "The Resistance forces will be crushed," the black one said, leading a charge of the three towards them.

X prepared to fight. But then Aile felt a flash of anger. He grabbed X by the waist, then shoved him back past the door into the maintenance area. Squawking, the parrot flew after X, seeing if he was okay. Then Aile gave a silent order for the door to shut between them. "Aile!" he heard from the other side, along with a pound.

"Get to R and make sure he's safe," Aile commanded. "That's the most important thing. Those three are advanced Preons; I'll keep them from following you."

And there was one way to make absolutely certain that they would not pursue X. Aile was a broken reploid. But he wasn't worthless and he would do something to prove how determined he was not to let the Rebellion win.

* * *

 

Over his lifetime, X had seen an awful lot of death. So he knew from the particular sound of that explosion and the severity with which the door had been damaged that Aile must have blown himself up to destroy the three Preons. It still shocked him when someone pulled a sacrificial suicide like that. Even someone he had known for a short amount of time. He had admired Aile for his strength against his handicaps, mental and physical. But maybe he had finally succumbed to that darker self-destructive side that X had seen just a few hours ago.

"Aawwh," the parrot mechaniloid cried, sounding saddened. He landed back on X's shoulder and sighed, bumping his head against X's cheek for some sympathy.

He patted the parrot and was tolerated this time. "It was a terrible loss. But we can't let Aile's death go by in vain. Come on, we need to get to R before they take him away." He would have to deal with that death later.

He moved a bit slower this time, partly because the parrot was still on his shoulder and partly so he made less noise. At the other end of the maintenance hall, there was a security door. But it recognized Aile's badge, so unlocked readily for him.

Right now, he was on floor 150, and had to be on floor 153. Ignoring the lower maintenance area, he located the corkscrew ramps and headed up. He encountered no one until the ramp up to floor 152, a male reploid in the dark gray combat armor most of the civilian Resistance fighters wore. "What are you doing here?" X asked, using a tone of authority.

The man saluted. "Oh, X sir. I'm part of the intelligence squad that was sent to confirm Chief R's location. But, my friends got captured while we were trying to get out. It seems Jango's called a transport to take them and R to Tianna district, but it hasn't come yet."

He nodded. "Good. Who's guarding your friends?"

"Three Preons, sir. I'm sorry, but I'm still not really accustomed to my weapon."

"What've you go?"

The civilian solider blushed as he brought out a fairly standard energy pistol. "I mean, I was just a vehicle mechanic, so…"

X put his hand on the fellow's shoulder and smiled. "It's okay. You come in and hang behind me, and we'll get your squad free."

He nodded. "R-right sir. Thank you."

"What's your name?"

"Me? I'm Michael."

"Okay Michael, let's go." He went into the next room, followed by the civilian.

It was two Preon Chasers plus an odd red Preon with sparking prong hands. Not difficult for X to handle, but for a former vehicle mechanic, probably a tough fight. "The Resistance forces will be crushed," one Chaser said, then began firing at the two of them.

X shot at the red one while the parrot decided to fly off his shoulder and prepare its weapon. Michael managed a glancing blow at one Chaser. "Keep your hand steady," he called back. "Like you're using one of your precision tools. And use the two stubs at the end to aim with."

"Okay," Michael replied, making an effort to do as suggested.

Deciding to leave that one Chaser to him, X sidestepped a dash attack from the red Preon, which attempted to stab him with its sparking prongs. Then he kicked it off balance to keep it from rushing on by to Michael, and then fired at the back of its head. That put it down. Michael's next shot was better, hitting the Chaser near its visual sensors.

X figured that with his current weapon energy level, he could knock both of them down with a strike-all charge shot. But he wanted to give the civilian a shot, so he used a regular charged shot at the other Chaser. At the same time, R's parrot fired a bright beam energy attack at the Chaser X was fighting. It didn't stand a chance and promptly started billowing black smoke. Michael fired again, this time finishing off his Chaser.

"Good work," X said in encouragement. "They aren't that bad as individuals, but a group can pose a challenge."

He stood up straighter now, pleased to hear that. "Yeah. Thanks X sir. They shut the others in over here." He went over to the door on their right.

Although it had a light indicating that it was locked, X pressed the release button. It scanned him for the badge, then opened up. There were three female reploids and one male inside, all bound with handcuffs. "Don't worry, we're here to get you out." X then fished out his small metal lockpick, something he was authorized to carry as a government enforcement officer. It didn't take long to get them out that way.

"Thank you, X sir," one of the girls said.

They introduced themselves as Jasmine, Saffron, Cumin, and Basil. However, the four of them were in bad shape, with claw scars and electric scorches on their armors. "Michael, you'd best escort them back to a safe zone for repairs," X recommended. "R is on the level past this one, right?"

"Right," he said. "We couldn't get the door opened, but that's an official Precinct badge, so it should allow you inside. But be careful of Wild Jango. He on the upper levels as well."

Cumin looked thoughtful, then reached into her armor pocket. "Oh, in case you run into him, here. I discovered that he's not very heat tolerant. These are Mega Fire bombs and they do good damage against him. And don't worry about conserving them. These are thanks for rescuing us, and I can make more easily back in the workshop."

X took the fire bombs, made up of small red canisters barely larger than a lipstick container. "Good, and thanks for telling me that. You lot take care."

* * *

 

Having taken hidden passages to the Governor's Precinct, Spider ended up back in the command room of Central Tower. "It's the truth," he told Jango. "X is here. He got away from me once, but now that I know his trick, I can avoid it."

"So he is here." Jango grumbled, then began pacing around. His claws and tail twitched. "He was supposed to be dead. They will not be happy to hear of this."

Observing him, Spider could tell that the jaguar felt constrained and restricted in this space. Likely why he was in a bad mood most of the time. Not wanting to get killed, Spider kept quiet. He could think of things to tease his 'boss' with, but that would be unwise.

Then Jango turned to him. "Well since you 'know his trick', why don't you try to destroy him again?"

Spider gave him a suspicious look. "Destroy him, huh? I don't know if I want to take that risk. X is strong and experienced. Hundreds of foolish Mavericks, even the strongest of them all, have fallen to him. He's not going to go down easy." He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "So what'll you pay for him?"

Jango looked angered and frustrated. However, he wasn't dumb. That was why he's asking me to fight X instead, Spider thought. He wasn't revealing it, but Jango must be afraid. "Look, if you can take him out, the Rebellion will give you anything you ask for. We know he's a dangerous opponent, so we won't make the risk without reward. Once we take over fully, you can ask for whatever you want and we'll get it to you."

Despite himself, Spider smiled a bit at that. "Is that so? I could always use a blank check." But then, there was a high chance that they might off him instead if he succeeded. Anyhow who could take down X alone would be a threat. "I think I'll give that a shot."

"Then don't waste time at it," Jango added.

* * *

 

X followed a long winding hallway to reach the room where R was being held. The parrot was in a happy mood, bopping its head as X checked over the control panel. There were twelve unlabeled buttons, so…

The parrot suddenly stopped. Feeling that was a bad sign, X turned around in time to get hit in the chest with an explosive card. The unexpected force knocked him back a step as well as disturbed the parrot into cawing madly. The magnetic badge popped off his armor and skipped down the hall towards his attacker, Spider. X had always had the worst luck with those things; they never wanted to secure to his armor.

"So we meet again, X," the bounty hunter said with a wolfish grin. Then he noted the sparkling pink badge on the ground. "What's this?" He started to drop down to pick it up.

X's temper flared. He normally kept cool and calm, but it was always a different matter when he encountered yet another friend's death. "Don't you dare touch Aile's badge," he demanded, bringing his buster to aim at Spider's head.

It had an unexpected effect, though. Spider froze on the spot, his eyes widening. "Aile?" That name made him lose his cool briefly, causing him to speak in worry.

That countered X's anger, but he still spoke harshly, judging that would have the best effect. "Aile helped start the Resistance in order to counter those Rebellion forces that you follow. He put his heart and soul into it, and even gave his own life in order to stop the Rebellion's hold on this city by helping me rescue Chief R. That may be all that's left of him… and a money-grubbing bounty hunter like you has no right to touch Aile's soul!"

And it did as he'd hoped for. Spider stood back up again, flustered. "He… he's dead?"

X nodded. "Yes. He was a noble reploid, one I learned to respect quickly."

"I see." He grimaced, now uneasy. "Aile… he helped me out when we were young bounty hunters… but it was my fault that he ended up messed up like he was. He did tell me…" He seemed repulsed by his own actions.

That was working. Keeping his buster active, X went over and picked up the badge. It was probably better not to put it back on. He noticed when Spider drew another one of his cards. However, the bounty hunter then turned around and looked to the ceiling.

"Sorry Jango, the deal's off!" he stated fiercely, then threw the card at a seemingly innocent block. It must have been a hidden camera, for sparks went flying as a result of that explosion. Then Spider glanced back to X. "You take care of what's his name, R. I'm going after that overgrown cat." Then he dashed off back down the hallway.

"Caw?" the parrot asked.

X smiled at it as he went back to the panel. "In my business, you've got to be able to figure out what drives people. You don't ignore the little signs."

This time, he put the badge itself near the panel. It triggered the sensor, which then unlocked the door automatically. X went through as it slid up. Past the door, there was a small oddly shaped room with a storage closet, a scattering of plastic bins and other items, and a computer console. R was sitting at the console's chair; he looked up to them in surprise.

"Rah!" The parrot flew right over to R and landed on his shoulder, nuzzling his neck affectionately.

"Hey, Mikey, you're all better," R said, patting his parrot. Then he got up. "And X, good to see you. You managed to get here quickly."

"The reploids you've got in the Resistance are a great bunch," he replied. Then he passed over the pink badge. "But Aile… he attempted to use a stronger support program than usual and it drove him into a manic episode. I came up here looking for him as well. When I found him, he seemed to be in a bad way, but gave me this. And then, he sacrificed himself to protect me from some advanced Preons."

His normally solid stance sagged. "I see…" he looked down to the badge, shaken. "I knew Aile would take this badly, but I had hoped that he would stay strong. We were working so hard to get him in contact with someone who could really do something for him."

"Arrr," the parrot cried softly.

X took R's hand. "I know its tough, but we're in a dangerous situation. We need to retreat to a safer location; the Resistance is depending on you."

"Right." He clasped the badge, then put it in his pocket. "I'm with you, so I can use a governor override to get anything done. That's why they want to take me from here alive, presumably so I can transfer the title and power to Epsilon. But I won't let them. And I will keep going… for Aile's sake.""

"Good. But the maintenance path is cut off. Do you know any other way out of this…?"

The computer screens interrupted them by popping up a picture of Wild Jango. "Grrr, so you think that by getting R that you've won, is it? Well I'm not letting that happen! I've got a network of bombs that's going to blow this tower to smithereens. And I'll kill you and that traitorous bounty hunter if I run into either of you again." He flicked a few switches, causing an alert that the bombs were armed and ready to blow. "And good riddance to it all!" The transmission then cut off.

"They're going to blow up the tower?" X asked in alarm.

"He was in the control room," R said, afraid but doing his best to stay in control. "Come on, we should be able to disarm the bombs from there."

"Sure." He left the room with R.

The parrot got off R's shoulder to fly alongside them. R added, "I'm sure you've noticed, but this district is a warren of strangely shaped halls. I know the quickest way to the control room, though. And given your position, I'm sure that you have training in disarming bombs."

"Right, that's a skill a Maverick Hunter must know in order to get a B rank."

On the way up, a few Preons made an attempt to stall them. However, X kept his buster at full charge along the way and blasted through any that tried to face them. R managed all the doors by transmitting the unlock codes directly to them. The pair easily made it to the command room with time to spare.

X went right to work in examining the bomb control panel. "Jango must not be a demolitions expert," he noted while he took a swiss army knife to the panel. "This is a standard set up, so it won't take much to stop the timer. We will still need to track down all the bombs to disassemble them properly." After a check to make sure the power lines weren't rigged, he disconnected the timer from its power supply. He also took the screw off the trigger mechanism itself, so the bombs weren't sent the detonation order by accident. "That's done."

"How much time was left on the counter?" R asked.

"Fifteen minutes."

He nodded. "Jango must have expected to be gone by then." He pointed to a screen. "He's at the helipad just above us; seems like someone is fighting him already."

X recognized the purple armored reploid there. "That's Spider. He was working for Jango, but it seems that he used to be Aile's partner."

"I've heard Aile mention someone by that name. If you want to help him, head straight through those two doors, then make a left. It'll be at the end of the hall at the end of the ramp."

"All right." He looked to the parrot on the leader's shoulder. "Mikey, is it? Make sure R stays safe."

"Awk!" The parrot fluffed up his false feathers and stood tall.

R smiled. "I can lock the command center as well. What's a transmission channel I can contact you through?"

Running through his settings, X tuned the console to a public frequency the Hunters sometimes used. "That will work. Keep an eye out for the Rebellion transport ship."

"Right. Good luck, X."

* * *

 

The helipad was a wide open space, but Spider knew Jango did not have much more of an advantage here. Even accounting for the safety railings, there was the near mile long drop to the ocean surface that both had to keep in mind. What Spider really had to watch out for was Jango's habit of tearing holes in armor and frying electrical systems. That was a deadly combo. He kept on the defensive; although he couldn't move nearly as fast as Jango, he had to keep moving.

After a few minutes of fighting, Jango paused in his dashing about. "What I don't get," he growled, "is why you're turning on us now. We offered you anything to take down X."

"Some things are worth more than money," Spider replied, taking advantage of the moment to throw a card at him. "Not a lot, but enough. Besides, you had no intention of keeping that promise, am I right?"

The jaguar narrowed his eyes. And that statement didn't sit too well with Spider either. He didn't like letting other people know what he really thought, and he thought poorly of sappy sentiments. But to get the favor of some people, one had to go with the sugary words. This turn about was complicating his plans. However, new cards had come into play and Spider did not want to get caught in the Rebellion's pay when the Maverick Hunters unleashed their S-Rank warriors.

And right on cue, the tower door opened up to bring X into the fight. "Wild Jango, you're under arrest for terrorism," he stated as he ran over to them. "Fight back and I have the authority to destroy you."

"I don't think you're capable of that," Jango boasted, then started a sparking spin dash that Spider had been on the receiving end of not that long ago. His arm still hurt.

X was undaunted and dashed out of the way, firing off a charged shot behind him. Jango crashed right into the shot, knocking him out of the spin dash. With a sharp metal squeal, his claws dug into the helipad surface. He attempted the dash move again.

Spider threw a card just ahead of Jango in order to connect his shot. "This one isn't too bright, is he?"

Seconds later, X had dashed to be right near Spider. "You're fighting with us, then?"

"Looks that way," he replied.

"Channel 79.65, local." Then he dashed away from Jango again, who tried sending a beam of electric energy at the two of them.

As he failed to get out of the way of that attack, Spider wondered why X had said that. Then it became obvious; he was informing him of what transmission channel he was using. It was a public access channel, so Spider was able to add that to his acceptable channels lists and open it up.

The first thing that came over was R. _"We have information that he is not that strong defensively, but his speed makes up for that."_

" _I can work with that,"_ X replied.

" _Does your information give us any elemental weakness?"_ Spider asked.

" _No."_

" _Mine does,"_ X stated. " _He's not heat-tolerant, so fire. Kind of typical of recent elemental designs."_

" _Ah. So no luring him off the edge of the tower and dropping him onto the ocean."_

In Spider's view, X winced at that, but soon stepped out of another electric dash. He had taken something out and jammed it into Jango's armor as well. " _The impact of falling that far could take him out, but I'd rather not chance it like that."_

The item turned out to be a Mega Fire capsule, as flames burst out and caused Jango to yelp. Spider looked the jaguar over as he stumbled. While his cards could have a variety of effects, elemental attacks was not one of them. Spotting a weakened part of his armor, Spider aimed for that spot and struck true. The card, while not powerful, was enough to knock a chunk of the armor off. If X had any more of those capsules, they would have more effect.

Wild Jango growled. "You're gonna pay for that," he said, then began dashing about the helipad with alarming speed and randomness. Every so often, he let loose another bolt of electric energy. They weren't aimed, but there was no warning. Both X and Spider took hits from that before the former managed to stop him with a thrown Mega Fire capsule.

On spotting another weakened piece of armor, Spider used Shuffle to ensure a strong hit, getting a bind effect added to his cards. Like with most electric based reploids, the bind didn't slow Jango down. He did manage to make another opening, to which X daringly dashed up to the jaguar, shot him in the face, then set off the Mega Fire capsule at the broken area. Flames soon engulfed Jango's body, causing him to scream in pain and anger.

" _Okay, now we lure him off the edge,"_ X ordered, dashing off towards the safety railing. " _With his sort, he'll try taking us out with the last of his energy."_

Spider wasn't keen on putting himself in that much danger, but dashed towards X, then away as Jango barreled at them. Flames, smoke, and sparks all wheeled after him. Somehow, the Maverick Hunter caught Jango's arm, then used the dying reploid's momentum to toss him over the safety railing and into the air. The Rebellion soldier then died in a booming explosion and impressive fireball.

"Whoa, nice move there," Spider said, smiling at X.

However, X seemed serious as he put his hand to his forehead. "They always try to fight. I wish they'd get the message that dying for your cause usually doesn't work."

"Feh, one less nutcase in the world. No need to beat yourself up over it." That didn't seem to have an effect, so Spider just shrugged and went back towards the door.

" _The Rebellion transport ship has arrived,"_ R informed them. " _East-south-east incoming."_

" _Have they?"_ X turned and dashed towards the railing in one spot. Curious, Spider decided to follow instead of going inside.

" _Looks like they're pausing…"_

It took a full zoom with telescopic lenses, but they could make out a ship in that direction. After watching for a minute, it didn't seem to approach. _"They seem to be aware of his death,"_ X noted.

" _I would agree. They're withdrawing for now. I've got the locations of the bombs, so I'll be sending those coordinates to others in the Resistance once I send out the message that we've driven Jango out and retaken the command room. Please stay nearby, though; there's something that concerns me."_

" _Will do,"_ X replied. He glanced at Spider.

Who shrugged. " _I'll be around too, if you have need of my services,"_ he told Chief R. _"I hear you were one of Aile's friends."_

" _Yes. I hope I can put his soul at peace by retaking the entire city."_

Spider turned aside, rolling his eyes when X couldn't see him. Such superstitious sentimentality. However, Aile had died (which certainly changed things). It would be more profitable, and definitely safer, to side with the Maverick Hunter X.

* * *

 

Mission Data

Reploid: Spider

Builder: Melda Mechanical Group

Model type: Ranged combatant-exhibition piece

Equipment: Card Glove: An experimental weapon, the Card Glove creates items that appear to be cards, but deal explosive damage upon target.

Hyper-Stealth Mode: User vanishes and cannot be dealt damage.

A/N: Spider's a pretty good character. He deals Shot-type damage, his personal metal (that he comes with) lets him dodge pretty well, he has a good speed, and he has an excellent resistance factor. That being said, his Shuffle move is random, his defenses are middling, and X fills the ranged fighter position better. Spider's still quite useful, but he's usually out when Axl comes in.  And Spider's got an awful lot of the game's good lines!


	11. Absent Without Leave

MH Far East HQ

"Shut the door, would you?" the brown reploid said, not looking up from his in-desk screen.

Axl came in to the room and shut the door as asked. This was the office of one of the senior intelligence members, Dusty Ram. In the past, he had always gotten good data for them, so he had been the one Axl felt most comfortable in asking. "Hey man. You have time to talk?"

After a glance up, Dusty punched in some commands to a separate keypad. The windows in the office became opaque and the hum of a blocking shield started. "Sure. I was hoping you'd get in soon. I don't think Zero's patience is going to hold out much longer." He gestured to an extra chair near the desk.

Sitting down, Axl leaned back and said, "Actually, I was having second thoughts on his plan. I know the Rebellion is trouble, but I'm not sure I should go with him."

"Why not?"

"Well it's out now that X is missing, right?" When he got a nod to that, Axl said, "So this seems like an opportunity for the Mavericks to strike, and even more so if Zero takes off. If all three of us are gone in an area with major interference problems, then it's going to hamper your ability to react if the Mavericks do launch a major strike."

Dusty nodded slowly, giving him a mock serious look. "Hmm. So you're the responsible one now?"

Axl laughed. "Hey man, I'm not a star-struck kid anymore. I just act like one sometimes."

After an amused smirk, Dusty shifted his computer screen for a reference. "Yes, that is a concern. But from the information we have, the Maverick remnants are incapable of a major strike at this time. We had that one who tried attacking the base directly."

"Yeah, but he was a loony," Axl said. And it had been a really easy fight too, although the cleanup took a tedious amount of time.

"And claiming to work on his own. Along with that, we don't have any sting operations planned for some time. There's no major base or gathering point for them anymore. The biggest threat around currently is the Rebellion."

He considered that. "So then going with Zero would be the better option?"

Dusty nodded. "Due to that, and because I at least definitely don't want Zero turning into a loose cannon. He has improved since the old days, but I would consider him unpredictable right now. You're someone he trusts, so it's best that you go with him."

On hearing that, Axl felt quietly relieved. He did want to go with Zero to search for X, but didn't want to abandon his duty as a Maverick Hunter if it was a dangerous time. "All right. Then what information do you have on Giga City and the Rebellion?"

He sighed. "Unfortunately, not much more than before. They're shooting down potential threats before they can enter the city, so you need to choose your transport carefully. You should also consider them hostile to outsiders and be careful when speaking to residents. We believe that the Rebellion holds onto the whole city and they can focus on keeping us out. I do have something that could be of use: we've confirmed two former Hunters as Rebellion members and there are indications that they're working at two particular locations. Tracking them down could be useful." He passed over a data drive with that information.

Axl took it to copy into his files. "Possibly. You really can't find much, huh?"

"Nobody can get in or out of there," Dusty stated. "The interference makes satellite photography tricky along with communications. "

"Bummer." He got up to leave. "At least we have some targets now. Thanks for trying, Dusty."

The officer gave a casual salute. "Take care, Axl." He didn't immediately remove the window opaquing or the sound shield when the Hunter opened the door and left. But he did take a moment to sit back and smile. "Well that gets both of you out of my hair for a little while," he said quietly to himself. "Once you're gone, I'll let Dusty Ram's body be found and the next phase can begin."

* * *

 

Getting back to Giga City presented a problem. Not only was the Rebellion's interference signal messing up communications, but the government had labeled it an extremely dangerous area. There was little reason to wonder why, given that the Maverick Hunters had lost several squads there, including one with two S-Rank Hunters. Some had been killed, while others defected outright. For that reason, all satellite links had been cut to the area. Teleporting was out.

It could be reached with small vehicles. Anything large was out of the question, as the Rebellion had already proven that it would fire at anything that appeared threatening in their airspace. But that could include smaller vehicles as well, so whatever option was decided on, it had to be strong enough to take a hit or fast enough to dodge one.

And then there was the fact that Redips insisted that no one else went. "We've already found that our intelligence of the area is severely lacking," he stated. "So until we know more, no one else is to go in."

Zero narrowed his eyes at the commander. "Then what are you going to do? It would take forever for someone in intelligence to get in there, find the right information, then report back, and even then we risk losing them to the Rebellion's propaganda. And we risk losing one if they get found out, as few of the spies can handle themselves in a heated battle."

"We must be cautious and patient," Redips said, keeping his voice even as he looked to Zero directly.

"And what, besiege them?" Zero snapped. "That's a horrible idea. There aren't any humans in there and the reploids have all the supplies they need to survive for decades. On the other hand, we've got reploids out here who are dependent on force metals and they'll suffer if we don't get Giga City back in line. Since the government council has decided that dropping an EMP bomb on them must be the absolute last resort, what else are you going to do? They could be preparing long range missiles and other weapons for all we know. So what are you going to do?"

The tactician grimaced. Normally, he showed no signs of his emotions, which meant that Zero had succeeded in ruffling his feathers. Of course, Redips was also used to dealing with Zero when X was there to keep him in check. "We don't want to make hasty mistakes again."

"Then you should have double-checked the mission data the first time," he retorted. "Well I've seen what lengths they'll go to in order to get their way. I'm going to go back in there and stop them before they do serious harm."

"But I need to plan…" he started to say.

"To hell with your plans!" Zero stormed towards the door.

"You're being reckless just because of your friend's death," Redips tried. "Don't be a fool and disappoint him."

Turning back to the tactician, Zero glowered. "That may be. But I also know that anyone who could kill X, even in an unfair fight like that, is a dangerous opponent. So I will stop at nothing to destroy them." He then left the office.

Other Maverick Hunters were in the next room, mostly recruits. They saw the dark mood Zero was in and decided to keep out of his path. Intelligent of them, Zero thought to himself. He went right to the nearest teleporter and ordered it to send him down to the vehicle maintenance bay. He sent a personal transmission, which should be missed by the base operators. " _Axl, where are you?"_

" _Lot 43,"_ the younger reploid answered immediately. " _I've got something neat to show you, so come on over!"_

Nodding to himself, Zero knew that Axl had found their vehicle. Even though the personal transmission should be ignored, there was a high chance that it would be intercepted and overheard anyhow. They knew Zero was in a mood to run off, so they would be watching him. Hopefully they didn't suspect that he'd recruited Axl to help him.

At Lot 43, he found Axl checking out a seacraft, the Black Gull. It was an angular craft meant as a stealth vehicle, made to avoid as many current scanners and tracking systems as possible. The Gull was near invisible at night on the open ocean and it performed admirably well in daylight as well. And since it was 'just a seacraft', it was not as high a priority as the stealth aircrafts or land vehicles. It would be easier to sneak away with the Gull.

Zero wasn't going to take chances, though. "Got it checked out?"

Axl nodded. "It's all clean and ready for a quick run around. The guys said it's just been sitting around for months."

When they could have used it to scout out the ocean surrounding Giga City. "Good. Want to take a trip?"

Axl grinned. "You bet!"

After getting the Black Gull transported to a sea dock, the pair set off for Giga City.

* * *

 

Nana used to be connected to the whole of Giga City. Then the Rebellion began stealing bits of it from her. Now they had taken her too, in order to connect her to the parts of the city they controlled. And it was worse than she'd thought. While maintenance had been kept decently, the Rebellion had refitted all districts to be defensive, dangerous to anyone who they did not allow in. The mechaniloids, once peaceful workers that kept out of the way, were being redesigned and reprogrammed to be fighting machines as well as to carry out their original tasks. Weapons and shields were being increased and the reploids under the Rebellion were all getting combat training. And those who opposed the Rebellion…

Those who supported Chief R's Resistance…

They were all at Tianna Camp, the former living quarters for miners and workers of the Tianna district.

Tianna Camp itself wasn't that bad. It was an underwater community, with artificial coral reefs to draw fish close to windows so that inhabitants could relax by watching them. Its quarters were small, but had been comfortable. Now, the area was a prison camp. Locks had been installed everywhere and strong mechaniloids were brought in to act as guards. The prisoners were stripped of all armor and weapons; some were even thrown into watery quarters whether they were able to handle the water or not.

And then Master Silver Horn… he was the worst. He was under orders to keep prisoners secure, but safe; he was to interrogate a few for information about the Resistance. Silver Horn had interpreted that as permission to torture at whim and keep prisoners in horrid condition, refusing to repair those that were injured. Many reploids had been brought to the point of near destruction, but held back so that they could wallow in agony. Enough of those victims had opted to shut themselves down in suicide that Silver Horn had started attaching new victims to external power supplies so that they could not kill themselves that way. It was terrible.

Nana was forced to watch every single incident. Somehow, Silver Horn had made it so that her operator's station had to keep its viewing window under his control. And if he happened to not be torturing anybody, he often set the station to replay those sessions for Nana. She wasn't sadistic like he was; those images horrified her. But no matter where she looked, she could not find the command to end those visions.

Epsilon missed this entirely. Nana was also forced to watch or listen to the Rebellion leader's speeches or musings. Somehow, he did not see how terrible his follower in Silver Horn was. He spoke of finding promise in every reploid, bringing them all a bright future. He talked of lofty ideas, but did not turn his eyes back to earth and see that Silver Horn had no intention of bringing every reploid happiness. How could such an intelligent leader miss the savage cruelty of Silver Horn?

Even work could not distract Nana from the pained screams and horrified cries of her Resistance peers. How could she ignore them? She was trapped in this new operator's station, locked down so tightly that she could not move any part of her body even if she wanted to. Her eyes saw nothing but what the screens showed her. Her skin felt nothing but what the electronic signals gave them. And her rest periods were shorter, just a few minutes when she wasn't even let out of this chair. But the others were truly in pain; it shamed her to think that she was relatively unharmed. It was too much! Nana cried, trembling with a frantic desire to escape this cage.

It didn't take long for Silver Horn to notice. He came into the room she was in, which she saw from the screen in front of her eyes. It was a strangely dark room. If she didn't have access to a map, she wouldn't have been able to figure out how big it really was. The large red reploid lumbered over towards her. "Nana, you're not working," he said in a threatening tone.

"S-sorry Master Silver Horn," she stammered out. "B-but the others are suffering an-and I…"

"Silence!" he bellowed. "I don't want to hear a peep or a complaint out of you, unless you're asked for something."

Nana whimpered, afraid of what he might do to her.

"You're working for the Rebellion now and don't you forget it," Silver Horn said. "I can't hurt you, only because those are Epsilon's direct orders. I can punish others in your stead and make sure that you don't forget that it's for your mistakes and rebellions. Is that clear?"

She didn't want others suffering for her. But if she complained, they would. "Yes sir," she said meekly.

"Good. Now the only other thing I need to make certain of is this: inform me immediately if any Resistance fighters break into this district. I heard recently that we lost Central Tower. Not that the place mattered, but I'm sure those fools will make this a priority target. So you will make it your priority to watch out for them and prepare defenses in case they do come."

"Yes sir." But even if they did come, what good would it do? She knew all the prisoners in the camp, including some of the Resistance's best. Like Steel Massimo, who had been taken into the deep chambers. Nana had seen that battle and the resulting torture session… that had been simply awful. She knew how hard Massimo had been trying to escape his dark past.

No, she couldn't think on that. Nana tried to focus in on her work of running the city's systems. That window of Silver Horn's was still open; the recording of someone's pained cries was part of her background noise. But she had to work, or he would punish more.

He would probably torture the prisoners anyhow, she realized glumly. But she didn't want it to be because of her. For now, she just had to lose herself in the work. She used to do that all the time.

It was much harder to do that anymore.

* * *

 

Through the driver's screens, Axl could see where he was taking the Black Gull. It was mostly open ocean, with distant buildings of the city's other districts. There was a large building platform ahead, but no building on it. Instead, there was a massive pile of broken concrete and twisted metal. "What's that wreck?"

To the side, Zero was monitoring the craft's radar and stealth equipment. The older Hunter frowned at the view. "That's where the tower was. There must be salvaging bots at work there, as that's not enough wreckage for how large the building was."

"That's not going to make our task any easier," he said glumly.

"Do you have an underwater transformation available?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I have several."

"You scout around under the ocean surface, but don't stray too far from the tower base. I'll be at the wreckage site."

"Right."

Once the boat stopped, Axl got out and dove into the water. He quickly turned into a squid-like mechaniloid; it didn't seem like much, but this form had the best underwater sensory equipment with a good speed. It was easy to adapt to it too. Take in a lot of water; his extra senses checked for any signs of oil, foreign metals, or an electric charge, any of which could be a sign of a reploid (or one's body). Initial check came up with nothing, so he readied the tentacle's muscles, then ejected the water and sped closer to the tower base, like a jet. He also scanned around visually and sonar-ly.

He found many actual mechaniloids who were working on scavenging. They would be programmed to recognize a reploid body, though. And then they would alert their supervisors so the body could be moved out of their way. Had the Rebellion taken X's body away already? That was something of a scary notion. There were still systems in X that engineers hadn't been able to figure out, or make equivalent systems to. If they had him and a decent engineer for a dissection…

As much as he didn't like it, Axl kept the thought in his mind as a possibility. It was something he was learning from his seniors in the Maverick Hunters. Even if it was thought that something was too crazy for anyone to attempt, there would always be someone who turned out to be far too crazy. And he had to admit that stealing X's body would be the practical thing for Mavericks to do.

Just so long as they didn't try restoring him under their control. That would be hell. Even a poorly done restoration could likely cause massive destruction before it could be put down. Not to mention how tough it would be on him and Zero to fight something using X's body.

A few hours later, Axl returned to the surface, reverting to his normal form. He spotted Zero crouched down on a relatively sturdy hunk of cement, with his head bowed and eyes closed. It had been two months ago, and he was still upset. However, he wore his helmet. Knowing him, Axl knew that the area was dangerous. Zero was just doing his best to deal with the loss.

He got up once Axl took a few steps onto the rubble and shifted it. "Find anything down there?"

"Not X. But I did find a couple of force metals, so I figured they might be useful. To me anyhow," he added the last part quickly.

"What kinds are they?" Zero asked. But as he approached him, he seemed to be genuinely interested in knowing.

Axl pulled them out and held them both out. "That yellow one is really potent, a Protect 20. I had no idea they even came that powerful; it's not safe for me to equip it."

"That was being used by one of X's men," Zero said.

"I see. We'd want to keep it anyhow, not just to return, but to keep it out of the Rebellion's hands. This other one is an Eagle Eye. It boosts the accuracy of attacks and throws." He made a face. "But I don't need something like that! My marksmanship is legendary."

Zero sniffed. "So you think." But there was a slight trace of amusement, which was good. "X picked up a unique force metal in the tower and had equipped it, a love metal."

"Those? Well if we could find it, we'd know for certain if X… I mean, they imprint to particular reploids and once they do, you can find out who by putting them in special scanners. But these were the only two I found underwater. Didn't see any scrap of metal that could have been him."

After looking over the pile a moment longer, Zero turned and headed back to the Black Gull. "I didn't find any trace of him up here either."

"So what do we do now?"

"We need to find out if the Rebellion has found him. We can track down the traitors while we're at it. Let's go."

* * *

 

X had not been badly hurt in the Wild Jango fight, but he still took a half hour break in a maintenance bed to heal and rest up. In that time, he reviewed the data his variable weapons program had gotten off of Wild Jango and the Hippopressor. The latter's bind darts were effective at incapacitating a reploid or mechaniloid foe. While he deleted most weapons out of his system, that one might be worth hanging on to for as long as it remained effective. Wild Jango's electric dash, not so much as it was clearly a battle weapon. But while he was in Giga City on this mission, it would come in handy.

On coming out of the maintenance area, he found two of the reploids he had left on the distraction mission in the waiting area. They were chatting like dear friends, or even more than that. Smiling at the thought, X reviewed his memories until he came up with their names. "Kratos, Yellow Sunbee, good to see you well."

They both looked pleasantly surprised at the recognition. Kratos got up and saluted, while the insectoid Sunbee flew up and curtsied in midair. "Oh, X, good to see you well too," Kratos said. "We just reported in with Chief R about our mission. It was a success, but then you managed to liberate the tower yourself."

"Your mission was a help," he replied. "And it was a good backup in case something went bad on my end. I'll probably look over those reports myself, but good work and thank you."

"We're glad to have helped," Sunbee said, a broad smile on her face.

Just then, a familiar voice interrupted their talk. "No, I don't need to use the maintenance bed," Spider insisted, coming out of the repair area. "I fixed my injuries myself, so I'm fine."

"But you may have missed something," a well-meaning nurse said, following him. "It would help recharge your energy too."

"Look, I don't use those automated machines," he said firmly, looking right at her with a menacing pose. He didn't seem like he would attack; he was more likely just picky about his care.

"I've heard of paranoia, but isn't refusing a maintenance bed a bit too much?" Sunbee asked, looking to Kratos.

X spotted a door opening, which let R into the room. Figuring it would be okay to treat him as a peer, he gave a slight bow to acknowledge his entry. R returned it in kind, while the parrot mechaniloid on his shoulder bobbed up and down happily.

"Besides, I'd like to get out for some fresh air too," Spider said, still arguing with the nurse.

"Where to?" X asked. He watched the bounty hunter carefully to gauge his response.

He had an excellent poker face, but the way he shifted his posture and stepped away from both X and the nurse indicated that he didn't want them to know why. "Just around," he said in a casual tone, waving his hand as if it were no big deal. "Jango had me on indoor patrols almost constantly, so I'm getting a little sick of these halls."

But he had first met Spider at an outdoor plaza, X thought. That may have been why he was there, but his evasive manner plainly said that he didn't trust them fully, and he might not be worth a full trust from X. However, X was good at bluffing himself. "That would get tiring," he said in a friendly understanding tone.

"Yet, I would rather you stay nearby," R said, coming over to them. "I know we just had a rough mission to rescue me, and some of us are already on a long day. But there is something vital that we need to do and if I can manage it in an hour, we'll be heading out soon."

"We'd be up for it," Kratos volunteered.

R nodded to him. "Thanks. Spider, we can't offer or promise you much for your services, but should you wish to make things up for Aile, we'd like you to stick with us."

Spider hesitated. Did he still feel guilt about the force metal accident that handicapped Aile years ago? Or was he angered that they were using that against him? X couldn't quite tell. However, he nodded. "Right. I'll be around, at the helipad." Then he took off before the nurse could hassle him again.

R then spoke briefly to Kratos and Sunbee before turning to him. "If you don't mind, X, I would like your assistance in planning this next mission. I was designed for this kind of role in planning military operations, but I have never put it into full practice for a major offensive battle. You would at very least give me what a soldier on the battlefield would think."

"Sure, that's a good idea," X said. "I'm qualified to run tactics myself, but I was always more valuable in the field."

"Great, thank you. Let's go back to the command room."

Last time he had been here, X had been too busy to get a good look around the command center for Central Tower. Now that he could, he noticed a city operator's station right in the front center. There was a broadcast area, a teleport pad, two separate consoles, a three dimensional animated map of the entire Giga City area, and several defense systems. R sat down in the secondary console chair and manipulated the map, zooming in on a northeastern district.

"I may be the city's operational governor," R started, "but I'm afraid that I don't have full control over this room. That over there is the actual station for the city's entire network. It's normally run by the city's specialized operator reploid Nana. I handle the big picture while she handles all the little details. And she is unparalleled at her position. I'm limited in what I can do without her."

X thought over that. "If she's in charge of the entire city network, than she would be valuable to the Rebellion as well. They have her?"

"Yes. That is one of the first things they did when they invaded Central Tower, take her away. We managed to locate her here, in Tianna Camp, and it seems they still have her there. Originally, Tianna Camp was the first miner's community of Giga City; both their living and work quarters were located in the underwater area. Just prior to Epsilon's takeover, it was being slowly abandoned for other areas and mines, so the Rebellion managed to take the Tianna district easily. They transformed it into a prison camp where any reploids that refuse to go along with them are kept. And they left it under the command of Silver Horn." R shook his head. "What information leaked out of the district tells us that Silver Horn is extremely cruel and abusive. Many of our Resistance fighters were taken to Tianna, but I'm not sure how many you will find alive. Nana will certainly be alive, most likely unharmed."

"They would psychologically control her, though," X noted. "That can be even crueler."

"Right. I've been putting together a plan to take Tianna District from the Rebellion, primarily to release our reploids including Nana. I want to make sure this works, so I'm sending in a large force. I also want to put you in charge of a small squad that will challenge Silver Horn directly. Your group will most likely be the one to rescue Nana as well, since he would keep her close."

X nodded. "All right. Give me what information you have on Silver Horn, plus whoever you want in my squad."

"I want to know what you would want first," R said. "If there's anyone in particular that you know of, or any kind of skill you'd want in the squad."

He considered it and one person at least came to mind. "If that's so, I'd like to take Spider in my squad."

"Spider, is it?"

"Don't get me wrong," X said. "But please don't let this out. I don't trust Spider completely. I have nothing against bounty hunters, but as you said, you can make no promises or payments at this time. With no money at stake, we can't be sure how long he will stick around." He decided to trust R with this information. It would give the sign that he was working with them in full cooperation, which would help things run smoother.

"Even for the sake of an old friend?"

"I'm not sure about that either. When I spoke with Aile, I could tell he was earnest and sincere. When I speak to Spider, I can tell that he's evasive and headstrong. Also, he was going to assassinate me for a Rebellion award, but changed sides quickly after he learned of Aile's death. If he would change sides so swiftly, who's to say that he won't change sides again? I want to take him in my squad not because I trust him, but because if he does defect, I can handle the damage control and fallout of such a betrayal. A less experienced person might get killed in such an event; that's an extreme, but one I've learned better than to reject as a possibility."

"I see," R replied. "I wasn't too sure about Spider myself. Aile has mentioned his name before, but in the context he did… I still have to look into it myself, but he has avoided my friend for years, so it makes his change of heart now suspect. But then you'd need someone else in case of such an event."

"Right. In that case, I believe we need a close-quarters fighter. I'd rather take someone with a heavy-class weapon and a strong defense too. Even if that might slow us down, Spider and I are both medium-class shooters, with Spider being much closer to the light-class. It'd have to be someone who doesn't mind being a shield, so to speak."

"Hmm… in that case, I would recommend Steel Massimo. He's a heavy-class close combat fighter, although as you say, he is quite large and slow. But he's one of our experienced fighters, designed as a military-grade reploid by an African firm. He is also devoted to our cause; I have no doubts in his loyalty to the Resistance. He'll serve you well and he will be a big help against Silver Horn, who is known to have tough defenses."

"He sounds good, so Spider and Steel Massimo for certain. Let's review the rest of your plans and the information we have first. If I think I need anyone else, I'll tell you afterwards."


	12. The Paper Hero, part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this point on, italics mark either a private transmission or one on a specific line for the party members. Other transmissions will be regular text.

After completing a mission to disarm and dismantle some bombs around Central Tower, Butler returned to Massimo's quarters. He still had to remind himself to do that; it wasn't easy to take on another's identity. Since he didn't have any more orders, he came out of the armor to take a shower.

The plan was working well. A little too well, Butler thought. As the days went by, he worried about being caught as a fake. Massimo was such a hero to the Resistance and the civilians, even if he didn't think so. If they found out Butler's ruse, they might assume the worst. But what could he do about it? He kept up the act, waiting for his mentor to return.

But as the days went by, he wondered where the real Massimo was. Butler was confidant that the real hero could defeat Silver Horn and rescue the Tianna Camp prisoners. But shouldn't he have been back by now? It was over two weeks since he had left. If something had happened to him, then what chance did the Resistance have against the Rebellion? It looked bad… no, he told himself, he couldn't lose confidence. Maybe Massimo was taking a slower approach, given that he was without his armor.

After his shower, Butler then attended to cleaning and maintenance work on the armor. Doing so reminded him of taking an afternoon to clean Dr. Lagrano's personal boat and aircraft. Those had been quiet days where he didn't have to deal with the master's condescending attitude. He had certainly deserved to have that attitude, as the top scientist, researcher, and engineer of Giga City. But he took far too many liberties with that position. He was precise and picky, sometimes just to harass the reploids and humans who worked for him. Few people actually liked Hiram Lagrano for himself.

Butler could deal with Hiram's loss; it wasn't that much of one, save for some minor respect he kept as the engineer was the source of his employment. But it wasn't so easy to deal with the losses of Celia, Robert, and Cindy, Hiram's wife and two children. Those three had been wonderful to Butler. Celia always asked 'please' when she wanted him to do something, and she liked to just talk with him for company. Robert was a good deal more sympathetic to reploids, even though he shared an interest in programming and engineering with his father; he always checking up on Butler to make sure his maintenance work was done. And Cindy, just being a young child, had sweetly offered to give him a better name, once she thought of the perfect one. He enjoyed the evenings he spent watching over the kids the most.

Those days were all gone now. No longer would he hear the kids' laughter and chatter; now he remembered their cries and screams. No longer would he hear Celia asking him politely; now he remembered her begging Incentas to spare the lives of her children, if not hers. The kids had died first. Such horrible things… he wasn't sure if he'd ever escape it.

The phone to the apartment began ringing. Butler was finished with his chore anyhow, so he put the tools on a sidetable to answer the call. While he did his best to sound confident and gruff like the real Massimo, he wasn't sure he was managing. But he also had to mentally remind himself that Massimo rarely gave full greetings. "Hello, who is this?"

"This is R," the tactician said. "I need you to come to the meeting hall, as we're going to lead a strike into Tianna Camp. You're going to be put into the forward squad under Commander X, who is leading the battle in the field. Report in ten minutes."

"Yes sir, I'll be there."

"What about your partner, Butler? We'll have to move him to another squad."

Oh great… caught, or almost so. "He's no longer around," Butler said, letting some of his anxiety for the real Massimo's fate into his voice.

"I see. Sorry for the loss; I knew you were becoming friends. But we must press on."

"Right." He disconnected the call after R did. When he did, Butler clenched his fist, but smiled. "What the heck? X?"

He closed his eyes, restraining a gleeful laugh. They were putting him in the forward squad under X, the greatest hero among reploids? The one who they all originated from? This was wonderfully exciting! He'd rather meet such a famous figure under more normal circumstances, not getting ready for a battle. But still, how many people got to work personally with X? Especially non-professional fighters and servant reploids like Butler.

But that caused him worry too. Wouldn't a professional like X realize that Butler was a novice, a fake? And if he was in the forward squad, that meant that they were most likely to head into a dangerous situation. X could handle that. But Butler would get his cover blown, maybe ruined. People would think he was a glory-seeking traitor, nothing but a paper hero. And then, what would become of him? He had seen that reploids who messed up rarely got a second chance and spent the rest of their lives stuck with manual labor positions.

Still, he had already made R at least think that he was dead. And he had his orders, as Steel Massimo. He had to keep working in the real hero's place. After a check to make sure the cleaning was complete, he got the armor back on and went to the auditorium of the Governor's District.

The first thing he noticed was that this was indeed a large strike. There must have been over two hundred reploids in the hall, making it noisy and nearly packed. The Resistance soldiers stepped aside to give him way, though, all with smiles and greetings of respect for their hero. Butler wished again that the real Massimo was back. He would convince him that he was a true hero for overcoming his short-comings. Maybe he could do that on or after this mission.

He didn't go onto the stage, but up front, he met with R, X, and a third reploid. The last was leaning against the wall, observing all around him. He had a violet theme going on and had strange armor that included suitcoat tails and an old fashioned hat. Butler smiled, even though it couldn't be seen behind the face guard. "Good to see you back, R," he said, trying to sound as booming and gruff as Massimo did. He didn't think he managed the latter part well.

"Thanks, Massimo," he replied. He gave quick introductions to everyone, naming the violet reploid as Spider.

Spider seemed unenthusiastic, but nodded to him. X gave him a warm smile. "Good to meet you, Steel Massimo." They shook hands.

"Same here," he replied. Butler was doing his best not to get excited like some little kid. That wasn't how Massimo acted! But he sure felt that way.

The excitement soon turned to anxiety when R said, "Well then, I'll leave you to explain the mission to your squad. I'm going to address the crowd."

"Right," X said. Once R walked off, the Hunter turned to them and handed them each a data drive. "Actually, here, I'm giving you this instead."

"What is it?" Spider asked, looked at the drive curiously.

Butler decided to run a quick check on it. He was pretty sure X wouldn't leave any viruses or stuff like that on the drive; he was too much of a hero to do something that dirty. But it would look good to take the precaution.

"It's an access key to a restricted use communications line. The Maverick Hunters rarely use public access lines and I think this would be useful while we're tracking down Silver Horn, as it can't be tapped without the key. Also, the line itself is hosted by my transmitter, so that's another layer of protection against eavesdroppers. But I'm only giving the key to you two; the main force will be using a keyless access line, so you'll need to be receptive to both."

"Why don't you just use private lines?" Butler asked.

X blinked, then answered, "Even those can be tapped by skilled enough hackers. We don't take the risk."

Then R called for attention. "All right everyone, this is going to be our first major offensive strike. Our goal is to free the Tianna Camp POWs and defeat the prison supervisor Silver Horn. It is vital to our future success that we succeed here.

"There are three teleport locations that we can reach, so we will be sending forces to each. Your first goal is to clear and secure the immediate area so that the nurses and engineers can set up zones to take care of the prisoners and make sure it's safe for them to teleport. Some squads will remain behind to guard them while the rest will make their way inside the facility to where the prisoners are being held. Responsibility for leading the battle and fighting Silver Horn will fall to the field commander X and his squad. We know Silver Horn is dangerous, so if you see or hear of where he is, do not attempt to battle him yourself. Instead, you need to inform X of what you have learned.

"Once the areas are secure, groups will be sent to scout the area and find out where they are holding the prisoners. We're not certain how many there are, so be thorough and don't let any passage go unchecked. A few groups will be kept apart for the actual rescue and escorting the prisoners to the areas we hold. When you find an area with prisoners, keep at least two there to guard them until the escort group reaches the location. Our priority is rescue, so if our situation is compromised, get those out that you can. The enemy should be comprised of mostly mechaniloids, but I wouldn't discount the possibility of reploid foes appearing.

"I understand that most of you have never been in a situation like this, but please keep focused today. If you have too much difficulty, you may request a transfer to a different position from your squad leader, but do your best to keep your spirits up. The prisoners have been through much worse circumstances and need our help. We can't let extremists like the Rebellion win. Let's show them that we will not be intimidated by their tactics."

There were a number of cheers to this. Butler was grateful that the full body armor did disguise the fact that he was intimidated and afraid of the upcoming battle. But in order to find out what happened to his mentor, he had to go through with this.

" _But he's not going to be going in this battle, right?"_ Spider asked over the Hunter transmission line. " _Argh, I never like these bossy types like R, saying what you can do when."_

How could he be that disrespectful? Before Butler could say anything, X replied with, " _He's a tactician, not a warrior. He knows what he's doing; he just can't be on the front lines like we can."_

Spider took a deep breath, then said, " _I know, I know. I've just got my own goals and I didn't mean to get sidetracked for so long."_

" _Your own goals?"_ X seemed curious more than anything.

" _Yeah, you know… stuff I gotta do. Can we get going already?"_ He brushed a strand of hair out of his face.

" _R's looking out for us, don't worry,"_ Butler said. " _He does a good job."_

* * *

 

Michael clenched his pistol, nervous and trying not to accidentally pull the trigger (or shoot himself in the foot, again). Part of his mind was wondering why in the world he was here, in the teleport room getting ready for a major battle. He was a car mechanic, not a fighter! But here he was, getting ready to defend the honor of Giga City by fighting the Rebellion. He had dark gray and red armor, the kind most civilian volunteer fighters had been issued,

Taking some deep breaths, he reminded himself of why he was doing this. His old friends and coworkers, if they had been human, had been forced out of the city. At first, it was just under threat of cutting power and enforced curfews, but it soon turned into violence and death. They had gotten out alive, for which Michael was grateful. However, the Rebellion had not let the reploids of Giga City leave too, at least not easily. If he had the choice, he would have left with his friends. The Rebellion weren't following their own ideals and were making Giga City look bad in front of the whole world. So he and the Resistance were going to set things right.

But many of the Rebellion were soldiers, and many of the Resistance were civilian volunteers. While Michael wanted to hope that good would win, he was scared. He worried that he and others would be killed. He could remember that fight he had when X was right at his side… that was really amazing when he thought of it now. Still, he had been far out-classed and he might have made things harder to rescue his crew by fighting too. X could have had them out much faster.

The door to the mass teleport room opened up, letting in a familiar figure. They were putting her with his unit? Feeling flustered, Michael tried to compose himself so that he wouldn't stammer when she spoke to him. She was Joan, a security reploid that had worked in the same district as he had. Although she wouldn't be as good as the military 'roids, she would be better than a civilian like him. For several years, Michael had a crush on her. But how was he supposed to ask out such a confident, self-assured, and independent reploid woman as her?

Still, Joan recognized him and gave him a sweet smile. Michael smiled back. Oh, what did you say in a time like this? He was never much for socializing; his mind had been programmed to be geared towards unfeeling machinery. But if they were heading into a potentially deadly situation, you had to say something, right?

Joan spoke up first, as usual. "Excuse me, folks," she said. "I'm Joan, and I'll be in charge of this squad. Sorry for the wait; I had to confirm my orders first. We're going to be at site B, on the southeast corner of the Tianna District. As you heard, our first order of business is to clear the area and make sure it's safe for the healers and support to come in. If you're all ready, we'll be heading out." She looked to them all.

She was going to be in charge of this squad? What did that mean? Michael wasn't sure. Did it mean that she was now off-limits as a date, as she was a superior? Or did that mean he could prove himself reliable to her, maybe even learn more about her? Oh, but he wasn't good at this! He didn't want to make a fool out of himself in front of Joan.

Since he was ready (save for being nervous), he nodded along with the rest. Joan then came onto the pad with them. "Okay folks, let's head on out. Keep on your toes."

Seconds later, they appeared in front of a surface warehouse of Tianna District. Much of Tianna was underwater, so it was ocean on most sides around them. Behind them, there was a cargo elevator house that led down into the heart of the old mining community. In front of them, there was an enormous steel-frame warehouse painted a brilliant white. Here and there, it was starting to show signs of abandonment, like some cracked paint and growths of algae. But there were also active mechaniloids about, showing that activity was returning, if changed in nature.

Several pufferfish mechaniloids noticed them and began firing. This drew the attention of Preons that were about. Since his weapon was shot-type, Michael fired at one of the smaller puffers. It lost control of its hover mechanism and crashed to the ground.

"Michael," Joan called out as she prepared a long spark spear for use. "Go see if you can get the main door open. Butch, give him some cover."

"Yes, m'am," he replied, glad to put away his weapon. He ran over to the door panel to see what it was. Following close behind was a large warehouse worker who had been granted a heavy-duty armor and a rectangular shield weapon. With that guy by him, he shouldn't have to worry about being shot at.

Looking over the panel, Michael was first troubled because it was a keypad lock. But then he recalled that some simpler ones could be bypassed if he got into the mechanics behind it. That was probably why Joan put him to doing this. Activating his fingertip tools, he got one of his smaller screwdrivers and removed the plate cover. Once it was loose, he had to be careful as to not tear a wire or trip an alarm. He could still see well enough to figure out how to manipulate the door.

The sounds of gunfire and metal violence behind him nearly distracted him. But no, he had a job to do. Michael gently pulled the cover further off, allowing him the space to get his fingertip tools into the inner workings. Now he had to trigger the right circuits and keep the security alarms from going off… there! A rhythmic clatter started up as the warehouse door lifted up.

"Okay everyone, we're setting up in the warehouse," Joan ordered through the transmission line. "So clear it thoroughly." She gave a number of directions to teams of two, then to him, "Michael, do you think you can operate the warehouse control room?"

"I'll give it my best shot," he transmitted back.

"All right, then here's the directions. Butch, stay with him as his guard, especially when he's working. Get a move on, people."

As the group went inside, Michael felt oddly cheerful for being in the middle of a battle. She trusted him with an important job! Maybe she did like him, or maybe she just knew what his skills were. Nevertheless, he told himself that he would not disappoint her. He might even make her proud of him.

* * *

 

Things were going smoothly. A little too smoothly. Most of the Resistance didn't even notice it. Those that did were grateful for it. All except X. As much as he hated to admit it, his experience gave him a kind of instinct in battle. That instinct told him that the start of this battle shouldn't be this simple. He was getting word that sites A and B were cleared and almost ready for the support to come in. And site C, where he was, was already set up. It was the smallest site, but it unlike the other two, it was in the underwater tunnels.

Things would get rougher later on, he felt. For one thing, there was his squad. It wasn't optimal, even given the circumstances. Spider was getting restless with playing guard and X knew he wasn't fully reliable. Then there was Steel Massimo who, despite R's word, was most likely a novice who somehow had gotten hold of a top-grade military battle suit. He was doing his best not to show it, but X could read the fine lines stating that Massimo was nervous and fearful. Also, his knowledge wasn't on level of what a military reploid would know. For instance, questioning why they were using a locked communications line for their squad instead of private transmissions. That was standard practice these days.

Nevertheless, X was going to stick with those two. Changing squads now would raise questions. Spider would most likely resent him for it, and Massimo might bail out, abandoning the Resistance. X was just going to have to be more cautious, and quiet.

Which meant investigating why things were going smoothly. X had two theories of why. One would be very good for them, making this mission far simpler than he had originally thought. The other would be very bad for them, leaving these civilian soldiers in danger of a massacre. To find out which, he went to a computer console that was built into the wall and found a text messaging program. X opened it up and typed in one word.

* * *

 

The first to notice the Tianna District invasion was Nana. Multiple mass teleports were hard to miss. Thankfully, Silver Horn was preoccupied when the invasion occurred. Unfortunately, he was at his usual sport of tormenting the prisoners, so pained cries and pleas for mercy were trying to distract the operator.

So the Resistance had grown strong enough to not only repel the Central Tower invasion, but to set off an invasion of their own. Nana felt scared for them. Did they know how dangerous Master Silver Horn was? And what would happen if she was caught helping them? She should just ignore it.

Then a sharp crack and a yelp caused her to shudder. How did Silver Horn expect her to work through this? Sometimes she felt like having another nervous breakdown, but after the last one, she tried to be stoic and uncaring. She could manage stoic sometimes. Uncaring, no, she couldn't be that. Maybe the Resistance would be successful, especially if she helped.

But if they failed and she was caught, those ones fighting to save them now would be the ones to be tortured.

A soft cry managed to escape her lips. It sounded thundering in the silent room and Nana was frantic for a moment that it had been overheard. But no, Silver Horn didn't seem to notice. And he hadn't noticed the invasion yet. So she started taking measures to make sure that he would not notice. Catching alerts from Preons, lowering the security settings, shutting off a few cameras and traps… just small things that could be reset if need be.

And then a small text message got her attention. It was unsecured and public, so it came up to her notice. Normally, she ignored such things as trivial chatter between others. But, was this one directed at her? It simply said, "Hello."

Checking the origin of the message, she was shocked with surprise to see who it was. Could that really be X, the famous Maverick Hunter? What was he doing with the Resistance? But if it was him, then the Resistance wouldn't be as weak. Still, things were uncertain. She sent the reply, "You shouldn't alert Master Silver Horn like this."

Ignoring her warning, he replied, "We're looking to stop him, and rescue the prisoners held here. Is this Nana? This is X of the Maverick Hunters."

He knew of her? And it was him? Part of her said to continue being cautious. But the sounds of the prisoner broke her resolve. "Yes. He's not paying you attention now, but when he notices, he's going to be very angry."

And he surprised her again. "I realize that, and thank you for helping cover our entrance. Where are you and the other prisoners located? The rescue effort is our priority."

While bringing up the map, she noticed a sharp increase in activity over a certain transmission line. The one they were using? Nana blocked off the Rebellion's access to that line. Then she placed the prisoner locations on the map and sent it to X. "Here. Silver Horn is in the deep dungeon area, near what he calls the stadium now."

She looked into the camera at his area and saw Steel Massimo beside X, talking to him. What? But wasn't he…? X's answer gave her a clue, though. "Thank you," he had replied. "Also, Steel Massimo wants to know if he's on record as being held here."

How was she supposed to answer that? After what she had seen Silver Horn do to the real Massimo. "Yes," she replied. "Steel Massimo is recorded as having been captured in Tianna Camp a week ago. He is supposed to be in the deep dungeon now." And he was, although in a pitiful state that broke Nana's heart further.

At that, the Massimo with X nodded, perhaps upset and trying to hide it. Then he went off to help guard the area they were in. X replied. "All right, thanks for that."

"That isn't the real Steel Massimo with you," she told him.

"I suspected that before he asked. Do you know who he is?"

Nana couldn't get a good look at his face, but there was something else to him that gave an indication. "From the lance he's carrying, I would guess that is Butler, one of the civilian volunteers that Massimo befriended when the Rebellion invaded Central Tower. He took him in as a student."

"Let's keep the ruse for now," X suggested. "I'll be watching out for him. If things go well, I'll be rescuing you shortly. See you then."

"See you then," she replied, then shut down the conversation and erased it from the text logs. She watched for a moment as he left the console to retrieve Massimo and one other fighter, then head out from their location. For the first time in over a month, she was starting to feel hopeful again. But if this were to work, she had to keep the Resistance fighters safe.

* * *

 

Michael felt pleased with himself as he used the warehouse crane to move giant crates out of the way. He had gotten into the operating system with little difficulty and figured out how to use most of the warehouse machinery. Down on the floor, Joan and the others had destroyed all of the Rebellion mechaniloids and were now helping the support group set up maintenance beds and diagnosis machines. Things were going well

And they got better when X came in over the transmission line. "Okay everyone, listen up. I've made contact with Nana and she has given us the locations of the prisoners. I'm transmitting the map now to squad leaders, as well as directions on paths to clear and locations to secure. Scouts and the stronger offensive fighters need to go out first to clear the way, then the rescuers and defensive fighters need to go retrieve the prisoners. Remember, the prisoners' needs come first."

That would make things go faster, Michael figured. They wouldn't be searching about blindly and there was a definite plan. Although he kept clearing crates, he wondered what he would be doing.

Joan's transmission came a couple of minutes later. "Okay, Michael, Butch, you two stay where you are and use the warehouse's weapons against the Rebellion. Be sure to contact Dice here if any more battle mechaniloids show up."

"Yes, m'am," he replied. So he'd be staying here. Not the most heroic position, although one of the safer ones. And if he did a good job, he still might impress her. So that's what he would do.

* * *

 

Yellow Sunbee was four and a half feet tall, with armor in bright yellow striped by narrow black bands. And her wings made an audible hum, so there was no way she was going to be sneaking about anywhere. With her primary weapons being drone bee mechaniloids and a shock stick, she wasn't going to defeat a lot of enemies, even these dull-minded bots patrolling Tianna Camp. But when paired up with a better fighter, like Kratos running beside her, she made an ideal support fighter.

She and Kratos were leading a group of five shooters down to one of the large prisoner holding areas. The two of them could handle any mechaniloid guard that appeared; the others were there to act as guards while they cleared the holding area and waited for the rescue team. In the effort to impress X and R, they had agreed to make this a flawless mission.

At the door to the prison hall, a giant red gorilla mechaniloid stood guard. It pounded its free hand against its chest. "Intruders! You will be captured." It then rushed at Kratos with its sledgehammer weapon.

Sunbee sent her little bees to confuse the gorilla. With that help, Kratos slid under the sledgehammer and slashed at its legs with his vibro-blade discus weapon. Behind it, he grabbed the discus' chain, whirled it over his head, then decapitated the gorilla with it. She could then direct a bee attack into the mechaniloid's systems and fully destroy it that way.

"You sure you two need us?" one of the shooters joked.

Kratos flashed a grin and gave him a thumbs up. "Of course we do. We need an audience to look awesome in front of."

"And the audience goes, 'yay'," one of the other shooters said in a deadpan voice, getting laughter from the rest of the group.

"Thank you, we'll be here all week," Kratos retorted. Then he sent a private transmission to Sunbee, " _But I don't think we're going to be destroying a hundred mechaniloids on this mission. Darn, now I have to pay for our next date!"_

Sunbee giggled. " _Oh, then I'll be sure to pick a nice place, if the nice places reopen."_

" _Gah, are you trying to make me go broke, woman?"_ But his loving smile let her know that he was just giving her a hard time.

Going past the door, they came to a monitoring room with several consoles. It had once been used to control the mining drill, but had now been redone to run the prison. And the visuals struck them with horror. Even in that monitoring room, there was the corpse of one of the Resistance captives. His face was frozen in anguish and panic while his internal components were spread out across a good portion of the floor.

Sunbee trembled, feeling horrible at the sight. "What kind of sick bastard are we dealing with?" she asked quietly.


	13. The Paper Hero, part 2

Butler gripped his lance while riding the elevator down to the next level with Spider and X. While the drops were open and not far enough to be dangerous to reploids, the Massimo armor was heavy enough that it might break the underwater tunnels if he jumped off the level breaks. And this particular shaft was narrow. The transparent walls showed the famed reefs that had been built to attract fish as a decoration. Although the miners were gone, the fish were still swimming around the manmade structure, not caring about what was going on inside.

After glancing at a jellyfish, Spider turned to the two of them. "You know, I hear that the Rebellion has access to certain mechaniloids that have strong acids for weapons, which can eat through a guy's armor in seconds. Then all you have to do is leave him exposed to the elements and he's toast."

There were simple robots that could do that? Butler felt a squirm of fear move through his systems. It was a horrible thought, a nightmare he could imagine happening to him.

However, X was not impressed. He frowned. "Spider, if you're trying to freak us out in a dangerous situation, that is highly immature of you."

Sniffing, Spider leaned against the elevator rail and tossed his bangs aside. "Sheesh, I'm just having a bit of fun with you guys. I don't know about you, but this has been a pretty boring mission."

"I'm grateful for the boring missions," X said.

Butler decided that he didn't want to know what an interesting mission was if breaking into a prison was boring.

After a brief moment of darkness, the elevator came to its end. In front of them was another of those long steel hallways. But here, there was a giant beast of a mechaniloid, a bipedal dinosaur-like model with flashy red paint and large jaws. It was accompanied by two of those pufferfish mechaniloids that he was having trouble hitting. If he remembered right, he had heard about the big one from Hiram. D-Rex was its model name and many of its attacks were based on that large jaw it had. As when it opened its jaws wide and spat three miniature versions of them out at high speed.

"Whoa!" Spider said, trying to get out of the way of the mini-rexes, but getting struck by the third one. It latched onto his side and began gnawing at him. Spider slammed into it with a card. "I did not come here to be made into a meal."

Butler used the armor's hover jets to skate away from the mini-rexes, and towards the big D-Rex. That one had to be taken out quick, or at least made less of a threat. Shouting out, he slammed his lance into the 'bot's lower jaw. There was a crack as it came out of place.

X punted one of the mini-rexes into the wall, then shot a pufferfish that was trying to attack Butler. "Massimo, attack its jaw again. That should lessen its threat."

"Will do," he said, but then got attacked by the other pufferfish. Something within him activated; Massimo's force metal seemed to write up a program impossibly fast, or manipulate his movements somehow… but as the pufferfish fell back from its ramming attack, he swiftly slammed his lance into its side as a counter. But, he was a civilian and had never taken the training to learn combat counters.

No matter. The force metal had helped him; that was all. Butler then got ready to attack the D-Rex again. But it decided to spin its jaw 'head' around and launch a massive cloud of dust in the air. Butler's vision immediately blurred. Recalling where the D-Rex had been, he lashed out with his lance. A crunching noise resulted from his efforts and he glided back to get out of the way.

"Careful, that dust has viral properties," X stated. Butler heard him stumble into a wall; at least, it seemed like him.

"I got blinded," Butler replied. "You okay?"

There was a slam from Spider's exploding cards. "I'm all right," he said. "That's both the pufferfish down and that big whatchamacallit is handicapped now."

"D-Rex." Butler pulled out a Clear Vision capsule to clear his eyes; he wouldn't be much use if he couldn't see where he was hitting with his lance.

"I'll be okay," X said, sounding strained. "Give me a minute."

As Butler's vision cleared, he saw the D-Rex attempting to bodyslam him. The force metal again led him to counter that move, knocking it onto its side. Spider followed up with his Shuffle move, hitting the D-Rex so hard that its legs snapped off its body as it collapsed. "And stay down, Rex," Spider taunted it.

Now that his vision had cleared, Butler could see that X was leaning against the wall, looking disoriented. "I've got a Vaccine program that ought to correct that," Butler offered.

X held up his hand. "Hang on…" then he snapped out of the disoriented state, standing back up on his own. "Okay, my systems have got it covered."

Butler felt puzzled, but impressed. "That didn't take long. Most reploids don't shake that poisonous virus strain so easily."

"I've got an adaptive immunity program," X explained. "That particular bug was simple, although extremely fast at replicating. Anyhow, we'd better keep going."

At the end of the hall, they passed through a door that led to a cavernous room. It was hard to tell exactly how big it was, as it was poorly lit. Darkness swallowed up all of the walls. There was a light illuminating the door they just came though, another illuminating a door on the other side of the room, and a light illuminating some kind of chair.

Or maybe it was an operator's station, Butler thought. It had a massive computer base, as well as multiple images flashing across a circular glass. And it had a split set of input keyboards. However, it also looked something like a torture device. It included an oversized helmet piece that would completely enclose a normal-sized humanoid's head. And it was built to encase said operator so completely that he or she would have little to no freedom of movement. There were even wires and equipment meant to handle personal care so that the reploid never need leave the chair.

But there was no operator in the chair.

"Huh," Spider said, adjusting his hat as he looked around. "You'd think this would be where they'd keep her if they were using her."

X went up to the chair and inspected it. By the time Butler got the armor over there, the Hunter had plucked something out of the helmet. It was a hair which he studied under the chair's spotlight. "It's the right color… seems Nana was here." Looking again, he seemed to find something more. "And she was here, not that long ago."

"How do you know?" Butler asked, curious.

X held up his hand, which had an oil stain. "This is still warm so if she got injured in being taken out…" X fiddled with his armor until he activated a flashlight device on his non-buster arm. Shining that across the floor, he found a few more oil droplets that led to far door. This led to yet another elevator, which led… to a hallway maze.

Looking over the set of doors and crossways in the hall ahead of them, Butler asked, "Which way now?"

Despite it being lit, they found no more of the telltale oil droplets. "Looks like we'll have to split up and search for them," X said. "But I'm fairly certain Silver Horn knows we're here. Take caution, and use the keyed line for what you may find."

* * *

 

Nana was terrified, enough that it was hard to find her voice. Silver Horn yanked her into a circular room, then threw her ahead in such a way that she tumbled to the ground. "What did I tell you, girl?" he growled, stamping his foot down hard enough to make the ground tremble. Everything about him was big: his heavily armored torso, his wide legs, his powerful arms, his silver horns. "You're working for the Rebellion, not the Resistance."

She tried to draw herself up defensively. One moment, she had been watching over the Resistance soldiers, thinking Silver Horn was occupied. The next, she had heard him enter the Dark Room and had done her best to shut off the cameras observing the invaders. But it was too late. He had found out about the invaders from a patrol Preon that had been perplexed about the sudden lack of security reports it had been getting. Apparently there were a few lines that she could not observe.

The sound of rushing water was usually relaxing, but somehow the water curtain falling into the pool below the floor sounded horribly violent. Silver Horn made his horns flash. "Well? Answer me."

"You can't hurt me…" she said meekly. And since most of the prisoners were gone, he could no longer take out his anger on them instead.

Silver Horn snatched her up from the ground and clenched her neck tightly. "Do you think I really care about Epsilon's orders that much? You've betrayed us now and we can no longer trust you. Besides, he told me to get information as I see fit. And I see fit to make you suffer for letting your worthless peers into my district. They'll be torn apart by the security, I'm sure. And if they're not, well then I will. But not until I've punished you suitably." Then he chuckled. "But I have to do something special with you, right? Since you know of my usual tricks."

Nana hoped that she could hold out until X's squad got here. But she was no longer certain about that. She wasn't very strong…

* * *

 

Keeping a mental map as he went along, Butler looked for any signs of Nana or Silver Horn. But he wasn't sure what he was looking for, other than the reploids themselves. X could make deductions from bits of hair and oil, while Spider probably had years of experience at tracking people down. He had no clue.

What he did find disturbed him greatly. There were parts scattered all over the floors, broken and battered. While there were riverlets of water streaming across the floor, there was a shiny film of oil on top, or on dry spots. A few bodies remained, showing signs of horrific torture. And the one head he had found had its expression frozen in fear and pain. It reminded him of the raid on the human habitation areas.

Then he heard something which he almost thought was something he imagined. But it wasn't. "Butler? Is that you?"

He went around the corner and found Massimo. But, he was in terrible condition. His arms were bound in electro-magnetic chains and his eyes had been torn out. Everything below his chest had fallen off, being in a messy pile below. In that condition, he was struggling to hang on to life.

"Massimo… yes, it's me," he replied, skating over to him.

"Hmph. I heard those jets, so familiar. What are you doing here?"

"The Resistance has invaded Tianna District. I was put in one of the lead squads, as they thought I was you. I went along with it so I could find or rescue you."

His partial body shifted, but it was hard telling what he was trying to do. "That's no use. I won't last much longer like this. I was holding on to spite Silver Horn, but I knew when I went too far. What's happened to him?"

"We're looking for him. But, I'm expected to fight him with the other two. I, I can't do that. I'm scared and I'll just drag the others down. Massimo, I can't be as strong as you, never."

"I think you will get to be stronger than me," Massimo replied. "And you're right to be scared. This isn't a situation to go into recklessly. But Silver Horn must be stopped. I don't care about the rest of the Rebellion, but I know that he is too sadistic to continue operating. And since you've been one chosen to go against him, you must stand by your teammates and fight."

I don't want to do that, he thought. It was too dangerous, he wasn't up to par. Clenching his lance, Butler replied, "I'm just a civilian reploid pretending to be you. You're the one this suit was designed for."

"And I used it to kill dozens of innocent humans and reploids while I was under a force metal induced berserk state," Massimo snapped back, seeming hateful to himself. "I am a war machine and I can be nothing more. I am a dangerous ally and enemy, to anyone. I nearly killed you before I knew your name, but Nana stopped me in time. I do not deserve to be treated as a hero. But, the others of Central Tower came to see Steel Massimo that way. I can't live up to their expectations. You, though, you can. Take my armor, and my name. It is best that I simply die here as a nameless victim, forgotten for I cannot be forgiven. But the others in the Resistance, the other civilian soldiers, they need a hero to look up to. It is best that you become that hero, for when this conflict ends, you can leave the armor behind and still live a productive life."

His hero and mentor was… a murderer? He had mentioned his dark past before, but Butler had been able to ignore that meaning even when he spoke of destroying lives. But if he felt guilt for that, why could he not be forgiven? Butler could see not forgiving Silver Horn, given the extent of the pain he inflicted on the prisoners. But Massimo had worked to defend others. And he…

He was now motionless, dead. Those last words must have taken up all his energy, and it was hard to tell if he could be recovered from this state.

What now? Butler had a strong desire to run. Leave the armor here, as it might be trackable. As a civilian reploid, he could blend in better in more places. And then just get the hell out of Giga City somehow, go somewhere where he wouldn't have to face death and violence anymore. This couldn't be worth it.

But the other civilian soldiers needed a hero… there was X, but one of their own might make them more optimistic.

He heard footsteps and quickly turned, in case it was an enemy. But it turned out to be X. "There you are, Massimo," he said, causing a moment of puzzlement to Butler. "What's wrong?"

Drat, now what? He glanced back at Massimo's hanging body. "It's…"

X followed his gaze, then nodded. "A friend of yours?"

"Yeah, but I…" what now? Massimo wanted him to fight, but he wanted to run, and it was probably better to fight, except that he might get killed…

Then X took his arm. "I know this might sound cold, but we have to go. It is tough losing a friend like this, but we're still in enemy territory. We can't hesitate for too long; it might be too late for Nana, or they might try to ambush us. Put your feelings aside for later, and we'll deal with the threat of Silver Horn now."

It was cold, but Butler realized that X was trying to help him. The Hunter had probably lost friends and allies before. So, maybe it was best to keep following his lead and decide what to do later. "Okay, I'll… do my best." He followed after X into another hall.

A minute later, they got word from Spider. " _Guys, I can hear a woman crying now. You'd better come to my location quick."_ He sent along a map of where he had ended up.

It wasn't too far off. " _We'll be right there,"_ X replied.

* * *

 

Not long after, Spider, X, and Massimo burst into the room where Silver Horn and Nana were. Spider took the initial few seconds to make observations. This was a round room maybe twenty-five feet across, but massive in height. Perhaps depth too, as the outer ring of the room was a water-filled moat. Water constantly cascaded down the sides at certain intervals, so this might be the drill chamber where they used seawater to keep the machinery from overheating. There was just the one door to the place, flanked on either side by walled-off workstations.

Silver Horn was probably around eight feet tall and five feet wide. His bright red and silver armor had no oil stains, but a glistening sheen indicated that maybe he had some kind of barrier from that kind of marking. Underneath his foot was a pink-haired civilian reploid; she had to be Nana. Pitifully, she did not even have the standard-grade armor that the Resistance forces had, just a cosmetic one that acted as a covering. Her helmet was only a regular operator's headset. From the look in Nana's eyes and her muffled cries, she most likely was heavily damaged and unable to escape in any manner.

"Let her go, Silver Horn," X demanded. Not subtle, that one.

"And why should I?" Silver Horn sneered. "She is weak, yet foolish enough to betray me. But the weak must obey the strong; that is how things go."

"Well I guess we'll have to kick your ass to show that we're stronger," Spider taunted. Actually, he'd be more careful if it was just himself taking on Silver Horn. But in a group of three, they stood a good chance.

"That's not likely to happen," he replied in total confidence, turning to face them. "I have power greater than you can guess at and… you!" He glared his small eyes at Massimo. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here to put an end to your cruelty," Massimo said, although some uncertain undertones indicated that he was nervous. Great, and here their big guy was getting scared.

Silver Horn then smirked. "No, you can't be Steel Massimo. You must be some imposter. I know because I had the real Massimo under my command. And that fool was such a braggart too. Steel Massimo? Hah! That man was more like feeble Massimo, and I made him suffer for his pride, tearing him apart one piece at a time." The delight with which he said this was disturbing, even to Spider. Man, he thought, we'd better not lose this fight.

But he had been looking at the Steel Massimo that had come with them. This guy was a fake? So how much stronger was the real deal? Spider had noticed the guy was rather jumpy for being a military 'roid, but had thought that stories of his prowess and courage had gotten inflated. That happened a lot in his experience.

However, Silver Horn's words incited this Massimo. His arms were shaking a bit, but it seemed to be in anger. "Feeble… Feeble Massimo?" He shot across the room faster than Spider expected, slamming his lance into the armor break that should have been Silver Horn's neck. That hit was so strong and unexpected that it knocked the sadist reploid onto his back. "You're going to pay for what you did to him!"

Right, this was the point where the mercenary figured it was best to hang back and take potshots when convenient. He wasn't about to get into the way of an angered fighter. X wasn't quite of the same mind, though. He dashed in, keeping his body posture low. Reaching Nana, he dropped down, picked up the operator, then dashed back to the entrance. X then put her in one of the workstations, which was partly shielded from the battle. "Spider, you keep guard over her." His armor then shifted colors, to a muted yellow with black trim. "I'll keep them on that side."

Spider gave a brief nod to acknowledge the order. That was fine by him, at least the 'stay on the side of the room where the battle is not' part. Guarding a girl who seemed to be barely conscious, eh, he'd usually ask for more pay for something like that. But nothing was guaranteed now.

Then, X zipped across the room at an even higher dash speed. Sparks flew off his boots and arms as he slammed himself into Silver Horn as he was getting back up. It was much like Wild Jango's crazy dash attack and it seemed to do a number on this reploid, stunning him into leaving himself open to Massimo's lance. X was still going at a high rate of speed, so he jumped before hitting the room's moat, hit the wall, then leapt off twisting to clap his sparking hands onto their foe's horns and push off. Landing back on his feet, he made an attempt to shoot at Silver Horn's leg joints.

Spider watched this display in awe. "Holy ****," he muttered to himself. He hadn't gotten much of a chance to watch X during the Jango fight; that had been too hectic. But on seeing this, he had to admit that X must have been holding back during their duel on the plaza. He remembered this one guy who had said that old soldiers were the most dangerous, because they were soldiers who had gotten old. It had seemed like a stupid redundancy back then, but Spider had to admit, there might have been some truth in that.

But he didn't want to seem like he was slacking, so he readied a card and threw it when both X and Massimo weren't in the way. Much to Spider's annoyance, it didn't seem to affect Silver Horn much. Right, so guard the girl was probably his best option.

On making sure Silver Horn's attention was elsewhere, Spider glanced over at Nana. She seemed to be unconscious, lying still with her eyes closed. Something that struck him as odd was that her body was soaked. There seemed to be more water pooled under her than oil. While there were also a number of fine cracks in her armor, that was more easily explained as Silver Horn had been standing on her when they entered. He may have dunked her in the water too.

A low hiss caught Spider's ears, so he looked back to the battle. Silver Horn's main horn was glowing, right before he unleashed a torrent of water at Massimo and X. Still using Jango's power, only X's holo-scarf was caught in the attack. Massimo was not so lucky and was knocked back. He managed to fall onto his knees as water poured out of the joints of his armor. But that seemed to push him over the brink, as he got back up with a glow emanating from his joints. That was a Hyper mode activation, Spider recognized.

In seconds, Massimo's armor had gone from reddish-brown to glossy gold. He called up an energy blast from his free hand, then followed up with a slam with his lance. It pierced Silver Horn's armor by an impressive amount, but not making a deathblow. Yanking the lance out, Massimo prepared to attack again.

But Silver Horn went on the defensive, calling up an extra layer of water around his body. At X's next shot, Spider recognized that this water layer highly reduced shot-type damage. Bad, since that was all his cards did. Plus, that water layer would soften the explosive charge. It did not seem to do much against Massimo's attacks, as another break in his armor appeared.

X did not seem deterred as he sent another electric shock into the water layer. That stunned Silver Horn for a moment, in which the Hunter shifted to his normal powers and dropped back. While the water was still guarding him, the extra electricity could not be good for the prison overlord. Still, he used one last attack, jumping up while taking control of the moat water, then slamming down on the ground to cause a massive wave to strike everyone in the room. Nana didn't take a direct blow, but Spider did. It was rough. His sight was momentarily blurred by water, but he blinked it away in time to see Massimo make another strike, which finally struck true. A muffled explosion came from within Silver Horn and the massive reploid collapsed on the floor, dead.

Massimo put his hand to his head. "Ugh, that last attack…"

"You guys all right?" X asked, glancing back Spider's way. "How's Nana?"

"I got hit hard," Massimo said.

"I'll be fine with some rest," Spider said, pulling off his hat to shake the water off it. "She's been out cold; still alive."

"Okay then." He sent a transmission out to the other Resistance members. "We've taken out Silver Horn, so we should only have to deal with the mechaniloids now. We need a rescue group to come down to our location; bring a scout group with you, as the area's still dangerous. We'll need a stretcher for Nana; the rest of us can get out fine."

"We'll get down to you in a few," came a reply amidst some cheers and congratulations.

Massimo bent some joints, letting more water out of his armor. Then he came over to the entrance where X had gone to check on Nana for himself. "X, Spider… I'm sorry about lying to you guys. But I am an imposter. The real Steel Massimo is dead."

X looked up to him for a moment to ask, "What happened?"

"I met him in the first days of the Central Tower siege. My name is Butler; I'm just one of the civilian volunteers."

"What the heck?" Spider asked, honestly surprised. "You're one of the civilians? So you've never done anything like this before?" But then how did he learn to counter like a pro? Or properly use a Hyper form, or know how to handle in-battle status attacks? Either this guy was still lying or the Resistance had some seriously hard-core training in place.

"No, I haven't," Massimo… Butler said. "I got some training from the other soldiers, and then Massimo became my mentor. I was really weak; couldn't do anything when the Rebellion raided the human living zone. I wanted to be strong like him, but he said I didn't want that. And then a few weeks ago, he left to come here, thinking he'd rescue the prisoners by himself. He left me his armor so that no one would discover that he was gone. I am a fraud, and I'm really sorry about it."

Spider's mind was racing. He thought his plans had been interrupted by his decision to change sides. But maybe that wasn't so. As the Resistance had strong members like X, and this Butler guy (seriously? He wouldn't believe a civilian butler could manage a military grade armor suit, but he had just seen proof of that), perhaps the position of the Rebellion wasn't stable for long. In that case, Spider might reach his end goal faster if he stuck with these guys.

Which mean being chummy with them. I hope I don't come out sounding like a sappy sentimentalist, he thought. Then he said, "Hey, it's no big deal. You had me fooled, but you had a good reason for it."

X got up and went over to him. "Right, Steel Massimo. You've done the Resistance proud and I'll be glad to have you fighting by my side in the future." He offered to shake hands.

The face covering didn't completely hide his smile as Massimo accepted the handshake. "Thanks, X."

* * *

 

Mission Data

Reploid: Steel Massimo- Butler

Builder: Melda Robotics Factory

Model type: household servant, non-combatant

Equipment: Massimo Armor: A military grade tanking armor, the Massimo Armor gives its user the defenses of non-sentient artillery units. It comes equipped with hover jets, primarily to lessen the effect of the weight of the piece on the user.

Massive Lance: A Combat-type weapon, this is a fairly ordinary modern lance, albeit a large one.

Hyper-Glint Armor: The Massimo Armor is further strengthened and becomes capable of dealing a neutral energy beam attack. Skilled use of this Hyper can produce status effects with every attack.

A/N: There are no bad party characters in Command Mission, although there is a fairly certain hierarchy. Unfortunately, Massimo hits the bottom of that list. His defenses are excellent, his Combat damage is very high, his Hyper is great, his personal metal lets him counter well, and he has the best FM resistance in the game. However, Speed is a vital stat due to the way turn order is handled and Massimo's speed is terrible. And despite his sky-high resistance, he can only equip two metals at once. There are points in the game where you won't have access to metals that can overload Massimo. Anyhow, late in the game, you can get an Attack-All weapon for him; by that point, he'll be massacring randoms despite having low speed, so you can make good use of him.

In-game, you know absolutely nothing about this Steel Massimo's past. Not even his original name or what he looks like without the armor. Of course, you don't know much about the original Steel Massimo either. And he's still got really nice character development here… which all takes place in one chapter. Poor guy.


	14. Annoying Bats, part 1

Nana woke up in a fright. Where was she? Where was Silver Horn? What was going to happen? She still felt wet, hurt, and…

"Calm down," a gentle voice said to her. "You're safe now, back in Central Tower."

She opened her eyes and found that she was on a maintenance bed, being prepared to go into a repair pod. Sitting by her side was a reploid with black hair and green eyes. While he wasn't wearing a helmet, he was wearing blue armor. That, that was him. The one who had helped her. "X? You defeated Silver Horn?"

He nodded. "We did, me, Steel Massimo, and Spider. Well, Butler as Steel Massimo. But I think he's going to take on that name and role permanently now."

"Oh, good." She felt a flush of warmth come to her. She had heard that he was a living legend, a master among the Maverick Hunters. But up close, he was, was like anyone else. Cute even. "Thank you."

"It had to be done." He put his hand on her arm. "I know it's going to be rough recovering from that. Sometimes the things you see are worse than what you experience. I would like a report on what Silver Horn was doing to the prisoners, but you don't need to tell me now. Just take it easy for a few days and don't worry. We're securing Central Tower and Tianna Camp now."

She started to sit up. "Oh, but I'm the only city operator…"

"Yeah, about that, I still want to give you some time. Could you register me as a city operator? I'll handle things for a while until you're ready to take the position back."

Nana looked to him, puzzled. "Can you do that? It's more complicated than most operator jobs and I was specifically designed to handle it."

X nodded. "I figured that. But I was the overhead operator for the entire Maverick Hunter organization a while back, for several years. It wasn't just complex, it was trying to keep heavily encrypted and top secured networks running at peak efficiency while keeping hackers out. I should be able to handle two districts of Giga City for a short time. A lot of the things can be trusted to run on automated, right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, for a little while." A break would be nice, and she'd need to anyhow if they were putting her in deep repair. "Can you get me an input keypad with an e-key scanner?"

"Sure." He got up to retrieve one.

Nana sat up slowly, causing some pain in her joints. It seemed like there was still some water in her systems. That was one of his preferred torture methods, to force high pressured water where it shouldn't be. But this was just for a little bit, while she accessed the system and set up a user's account for X. After scanning him for an identification key (which turned up as LX-000-0010 in the current ID system), she shifted the keypad to him. "Choose a password, then I just have to approve of it."

He paused a moment, then put one in twice for registration, then gave it to her for her signed and spoken approval. Then he took the instruments back. "Lay back down and rest; the doctor should be back shortly to transfer you. I'll ask if there are any problems, but it should be okay."

"Okay." She lay back down, but glanced up at him again. "Oh, and I have some mechaniloids that are designated as CO assistants. Could you check on them please and make sure they're still operating? I kind of got into taking in strays from around the city and putting them to work as messengers and the like."

He nodded. "Sure thing. You take it easy; R and I are getting things back in order."

"I trust you, then," she said, then closed her eyes and entered resting mode. So Silver Horn was gone. But, most of the Rebellion was still active, holding the majority of the city. Could they really overtake them, even with X's help?

* * *

 

X walked through the reopened shopping district on his way from the repair wing to the command center. Aile had cut off one access point and it hadn't yet gotten repaired. But the air bus system was now running, and he had been given clearance to disembark at the Governor's Precinct.

This place was quite different than when he'd been rushing through here after Aile, X thought. There were a lot more civilian reploids out, enjoying the sunlight and the lifting of area restrictions. All kinds of shops were open now, like Force Metal booths, a teleport station kiosk (with an operator who was apologizing profusely to a customer about the lack of available locations), a tool shop, even a weapons store. A number of vending machines had collectors' figurines, some made before the whole conflict, and others apparently made by bored citizens in the lockdown period. There was even a restaurant which, while open with a limited menu, was being adjusted for reploid customers.

For a long time, X had been the only reploid who could handle eating like humans. He didn't depend on it, but he found it useful in socializing and mineral salvaging (and occasional indulgences). But that was changing and technology was catching up with what it had been at one time. Nearly all of the reploids that had been made in Giga City could eat, although a reploid's tastes were often different than that of humans.

He walked through an automated door and was surprised when he nearly ran into a short reploid wearing white armor. "Oh, pardon me," he said, then got a good look at him.

And he was unusual in that he was child-like in form, with red hair and a child's face. "Sorry," he said, then brightened up. "Oh, you're Mr. X, aren't you? The famous Maverick Hunter?"

He nodded. "That's right."

He grinned and jumped a bit. "Cool, I never thought I'd get to meet you! Thanks for driving off the bad guys. We were shut away in the lower areas forever it seemed like."

Then he recalled that this was one of the breakthroughs that Giga City had made, creating realistic child reploids who mimicked human children in terms of development. The technology was imperfect, as they hadn't yet successfully made one that was less than three years old in terms of relative development. But it was something that segments of the reploid population had asked about for many years.

"Mark!" an adult female reploid called out, then came around a corner. "I told you not to go running too far ahead of me."

The boy let him go and looked back to his mother (probably adopted). "Sorry, mom. But look, I got to meet X!"

"Good afternoon, m'am," he said, bowing his head.

She looked surprised. "Oh! Sorry about him; he's been a little excitable today."

"It's fine," he said. "But you stay with your mom now, all right?"

"Okay," the boy said, partly reluctant but taking his mother's hand.

"If you'll excuse us," the mother said as she led the boy away.

"Bye, X!" Mark called.

He waved to them. "Bye, Mark."

He grinned at the use of his name, then skipped off through the door with his mother. X smiled, laughing softly at the encounter. Even in the peaceful moments like this, this conflict was unlike others that he had been through.

Down the hallway, he came to a plaza where the air bus station was. X checked with the attendant about going to the command center dock, then boarded the next bus. There were a number of reploids aboard the carrier craft, some getting off here at the shopping district, others getting on to go elsewhere, and those still waiting to get to their destination. X sat down with the rest and listened in on the conversations, to get a better feel of the community around here.

"No, there isn't much work for housekeeping reploids around anymore," one woman said. "Just about all the ones they need are full."

"Well what am I supposed to do then?" her friend asked. "I was designed for that work, not anything else."

"You have to find out how to do something else. I know it's tough, but a lot of us have managed. You could become an active member of the Resistance; they'll give you free training in another job."

"But I couldn't be a fighter. I'd freak out during practice."

"They can train you for other things. Like data input engineers, or tool maintenance. Or nursing; I hear they could use extra help in their repair wing now that we're actively at war with the Rebellion."

Hearing that reminded him that he should look into the volunteer forces the Resistance had closer. He'd been going almost non-stop since he had been released from repair and what rest he had was short. On checking his reserve energy, X figured that so long as no combat situations arose, he could easily go another three or four hours, enough time to check into the operating system and help R make sure the district was ready in case the Rebellion tried invading again. Then he should get a rest period in to keep at full efficiency.

Then he caught some words from another conversation, about 'a red armored reploid'. X turned his head and listened discreetly. It was a trio of men talking.

"You really think that's her?" one of them said.

"I'm sure that was the thief," the original speaker said. "She was sneaking about the tower, scoping things out."

"But the thief is supposed to be a master cat burglar," the third said. "She's too **** sneaky to be caught by someone like you."

"Hey! But she was checking things out, I know, and she was paying a little too much attention to the wares in the Force Metal shop, seeing what kind of security they had. And man, she was a hottie. If she is the thief, I'd let her steal me away any day."

The other two laughed. So it wasn't what he thought it was. Still, there was a thief around. He'd want to check into that if he got time. Thieves that were non-Maverick were low priority with the Maverick Hunters. Sometimes they let the human authorities handle those cases. But there was no other government law enforcement in the area, so if the thief proved too troublesome, he would be authorized to handle the case.

"Governor's Precinct dock coming up," the driver of the air bus called. "This is a restricted access area, so we will not spend much time here."

X got up, as the only one getting off here, and left the bus so that they could take back off. There was a force field screen at the doorway, but it faded to allow him through. Ahead, he saw Spider coming down the hall. "Hey there," he called, smiling.

"Oh, hey," Spider replied, then looked worried. "Did the air bus just leave?"

He nodded. "Right, they don't wait long here."

"Tch," he said, turning around in annoyance. "Looks like I'll need to take the scenic route out of here. Whoever designed this building deserves to go to hell with this exact same layout."

He chuckled, but felt concerned. He still wasn't too sure about this reploid. "Where're you going? Out to get some fresh air?"

"More or less," he replied, then left through another door.

And he might not be back, X thought. That was the trouble with mercenaries. Still, he'd been useful in Tianna Camp and in defeating Wild Jango. Spider's loyalty to his old partner might cause him to return, or it might just cause him to leave the city and not help the Rebellion anymore.

But X had work to do. He went into the command center itself, which was empty save for a maintenance worker near one of the large disks. "How are your repairs going?" X asked, looking at him from the railing.

The worker was lying on the floor, but pushed himself out from under the disk to look to him. "Smoothly, Commander X. This one is offline, but you should be able to access most of the mainframe's functions from up there."

"All right, tell me if you need me to do anything." He sat in the operator's chair and picked up the spare headset. With his helmet off, he only had to adjust it a small amount to get it to sit right. Then he brought the input pads into his preferred positions and logged into the city network.

The network responded to his first log in with a few questions while it confirmed his identity. That required him pausing for a bit to get into his own internal network. Dr. Light had built a number of safety systems into him, which was great as that made X the most virus and error resistant reploid in the world, even to this day. But it was also a hassle whenever he connected to other networks, as his systems were constantly running checks against the outer system and he had to manually defer a couple of safeguards to let the mainframe check his identity. But manually deferring them caused his system to accept no outside data until the safeguards were back in place, which caused problems when the Giga City network tried to give him an access key but couldn't. He then had to tell the network to send the key again so that he could actually do some work.

But he had seen all too well the hazards of not having a hyper paranoid immunity program, so X just quietly dealt with the hurdles it gave him.

Once he was in, he realized that Nana had been right; this mega system was highly complex, taking in data from every single system within it. Everything from tiny security cameras and vent cleaning droids to the air bus operators and the shop keepers, they all reported in to the Giga City network. The CO reploid really did have an enormous amount of power, but would be so inundated with information and tasks to accomplish that he or she required the city governor to deal with the larger picture. His first task was to check what was running automated and setting as many systems to 'self govern' as much as possible. That took the better part of one hour.

X realized just how lost he was in the network when the maintenance reploid spoke to him and he only noticed because an alert caused him to pay attention to him. "Hmm, sorry? What is it?"

"I've got the disk repaired," the worker repeated. "Do you need me to get R?"

"Uh," he checked his progress briefly. "Yes, please. It's hard to believe they set up only one reploid to run all this."

"Right; Nana was always amazing at what she could do. I'll get him."

"Thanks." Now that everything seemed to be running, he checked into his communications lines. This revealed a command room speaker which took any talking that was done in the room and put it into the headphones. He opened that channel up while he investigated other lines.

In that manner, he heard when R walked into the room with Mikey the parrot on his shoulder. "So you've gotten in the network now."

"Right," X said, feeling oddly disconnected with his own voice. "This system is different than what I'm used to, but I'm figuring it out. Nana's in deep repair now and I told her we were giving her a few days to rest before we wanted her back on duty."

"Good. I hope she recovers well." X got an alert that the governor's station had been activated and that R had logged in. "Anything in particular that has come up?"

"Not yet, I've been busy checking into all the systems you have and letting them continue on automated. I do have new repair lists that need to go to maintenance." He shifted the list to appear on the governor's station screen. "There will probably be more as I keep going."

"I expected that. I'll get it to them."

X took a moment to bring up the city map. "I've also notice something peculiar… most of the districts have Rebellion firewalls up, preventing access from this station. But this one district here, it's firewalled but not with their program."

"Right. That would be Gaudile Laboratory. Dr. Gaudile is an engineer who decided to stay independent and out of this whole conflict. He would have cut off that district on his own."

"I see. How many sides are there to this conflict, anyhow? It gets more complex the more I look into it."

R chuckled. "I'm not too sure myself sometimes. But Gaudile is a neutral party, so I'm not concerned with him. I am concerned about him, as I doubt the Rebellion would leave him alone. We have to get our holdings secured against the more aggressive parties before we can think of assisting him, though."

"Right."

* * *

 

It was said that while reploids could be recovered from astoundingly severe injuries, they could not be recovered from suicide.

Butler was in his mentor's apartment, out of the armor and on his own. He had found some red wine and had poured himself a glass of it. He couldn't get drunk like humans did, but he did like the aroma and taste of it. Although sometimes he wondered if it really did work to get drunk to forget about stuff for a while.

He had once thought that it might be great to be a hero, like one of the legendary Maverick Hunters. Then you would be strong, and everyone would respect you. And you weren't likely to be hurt. But that wasn't so. The man he had taken for his hero was gone now, tortured and humiliated by one of the villains. And now he was supposed to be the hero. But, he was still a coward. He might have fought and helped to defeat Silver Horn, but that was because he had gotten so angry at the prison master's cruelty.

Not only that, but his friend, the old Steel Massimo, he had been like one of the villains once. He admitted to killing innocents in a berserk rage, and to hiding from authorities. And to nearly killing Butler once. What was he supposed to think about that?

Maybe he could be a hero. But would he be any good at it? Or would more people die? Dr. Lagrano had spoken several times about war, and how it drove technologies to develop faster and stronger, forcing people to innovate or be left behind. It had seemed like a marvelous thing then. But, now that he was in a war, Butler thought it was terrible. People living in fear, losing their loved ones, afraid to lose even more…

The computer station in the room beeped unexpectedly, calling his attention to a message. For a minute, he didn't check on it. But then he got up mostly to stop the computer from beeping. It was a message from the city operator, strangely enough. Nana was already back at work? They had talked about giving her a few days off.

No, it wasn't from her. The sender line indicated that it was X.

'To our comrades who have fallen in these harsh battles, we send you our gratitude and a wish that your soul be at peace now. Our job is never easy, but you took on a great duty to end conflict and bring criminals to justice. We remember your good deeds, your passion, your actions, and will always keep you within our hearts.

'That's something that's been in the Maverick Hunters for a long time. Not entirely fitting this situation, but very close. I was thinking of making a plaque like that, or saying something similar, for all the volunteers like you here who wish to remember your fallen comrades. It's important to remember such losses, so that we work harder to prevent more in the future.

'I'm going to take a rest period myself shortly, but I'd like to meet with you later on to discuss that idea, and other things I'm sure you'd like to talk of. I appreciate your support and would like to support you in turn. Please reply if you wish to meet with me later.

'Most of all, keep your spirits up. From X.'

Even if he had lost friends, he had made some more. That was good to remember too. Butler sent his reply, then thought about resting up himself. Who knew when the next conflict would come up?

* * *

 

The open ocean was moving, waves rolling across its wide surface. In the distance, one could see Giga City's outer structures, as well as Central Tower soaring over them all. There didn't seem to be much else out here. But something was moving across the waves. It looked tiny against the massive ocean, a small jet bike with one passenger.

It slowed, then hovered over the water's surface. Spider took a reading of what communications clarity was at this point. The system the Rebellion had set up for interference, whatever it was, was massively powerful, forcing him to get several miles out from the city in order to make any contact at all.

The signal was good here, strong enough that it could handle encrypted messages. He sent out a query to a particular person. He knew that it would only get to its intended recipient.

Then he waited. Spider locked the controls of the bike, then slipped around to rest his back on the handles. He kicked his feet up onto the end of the seat, where the storage compartment was, and just rested there for a while. The ocean rolled underneath his bike, and the clouds moved slowly overhead. He did keep a radar system running in case someone approached him. But it was quiet, just with some aquatic life moving in the waters below. They were started to get such sea life back to self-sufficient numbers. Some people were thrilled about that. Spider could care less. Fish were not a good source of income. Too much work and equipment required.

His query got answered. "It's taken you quite some time to report in," his contact stated in a follow up message.

He seemed to do nothing more than adjust his hat, but sent back the reply, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I got caught up in things. Big changes have cropped up and I kind of got swept away."

"What kind of changes?"

"The Rebellion had all districts save for the ruins of Lagrano and Gaudile Laboratory for a while. But the Resistance brought up by R has turned out very impressive for a motley bunch of civilian volunteers and a handful of experienced fighters. Turns out Aile was assisting R."

"I see. Did you confront him?"

"Nah, he died before I ran into him again. But that did put me in a tight spot. It turned out that R and Aile somehow found X. He survived falling off the top of Lagrano Tower and was repaired by the Resistance. He's joined them. Jango asked me to kill him, offering me whatever I asked for in exchange."

"And how did that turn out?"

"Not so good at first. But then he told me of Aile's death and, one way or another, I got roped into assisting X defeat Jango. So now I'm working for the Resistance."

His contact seemed annoyed. "You do realize that the whole point of your contract with them was to get deeper into their organization."

"Yeah, I know. But look at it this way. The Resistance now has X on their side. And they've already recovered the Tianna District, and they have the city operator Nana back. Things are putting the Rebellion at a disadvantage now. I figure it's safer to work from this side for the time being. I'm sure the opportunity to complete my actual mission will come up."

"Possibly. So X is alive; that complicates things."

"What of Zero and Axl?"

"They're both still alive. The gamble to knock them all out before alerting them was wasted."

"Hey, at least they're alert in the wrong direction. Unless those two are doing something."

"They both went AWOL once Zero recovered enough. I am almost certain they went to Giga City again. Keep your eyes and ears open for news of them. If X draws them into the Resistance, then things could turn in our favor as well."

"Right. I need to get back before too long." He let himself smirk. "X trusts me for one reason or another. So I'm safe."

"Don't get cocky. But then, don't lose that trust. Will you report back in sooner next time?"

"That depends on if I can get away without arousing too much suspicion."

* * *

 

X was getting the hang of the city operator job, although he still found it quite the load. While checking over air traffic, he noticed something of interest. He paged R to get his attention. "I've got something happening close to Gaudile's lab in the forest district. The Rebellion is setting up another attack run there."

"Are they? They're putting a lot of pressure on him."

"Gaudile is a highly accomplished engineer. I've read many of his papers. Also, I've noticed that while we have a strong engineering core in the Resistance, we don't have any master engineers like Gaudile, or those in the Rebellion like Dr. Psyche and Epsilon himself."

"That's true," R said, coming over to the operator's station. "It would help us a great deal if we had Gaudile on our side. But convincing him to work with us is not going to be an easy task."

"Then let's start with this attack. Can we get together a squad to go out and intercept the Rebellion forces? I don't want them to land in the forest district. They just have to attack the attack force, making sure that our identify as the Resistance is known, then return. If we do this a few times, perhaps he'll see us as a beneficial ally, or at least a better choice than the Rebellion."

"That's a good idea, X. Call on the squad under Kratos and Sunbee, as well as the crew for our single battleship; they've got some decent pilots."

"Right away." X began sending out orders.


	15. Annoying Bats, part 2

Axl was driving the stealth boat Black Gull over the waters of Giga City. The weather indicators noted that temperatures were now below freezing. Small flows of ice were in the ocean, and the dock ahead was coated in it. "This place is made to be so cold because they have a lot of machinery that they don't want to overheat out here," he explained. "This is where I came in at, the Melda Robotics Plant."

Zero nodded. "Right. This is also a place I suspect they would bring X if they thought he could be repaired. The mission files mentioned that Lagrano and Melda competed over who could build the better reploids."

"I see." There was another reason to be here: the presence of the traitor Sineswiper from the 121st Maverick Hunter Unit. "Do we want to dock here? It's a little obvious."

Zero pointed out another area on the map. "Go check out this location instead. There doesn't seem to be much activity in this area, but better not risk it."

After finding a spot that was out of the main way but not suspiciously so, the two Hunters left the boat. Snow was falling in large soft flakes, following a light wind. Large machinery was at work all around them, with their combined hums enough to drown out the crunches of their boots on the snow packed surface.

A high pitched chirp got their attention as a bat mechaniloid noticed them. It had black wings, but a blue body with icy vapors swirling around it. So even the work droids were designed for this environment. The ice bat dove at them, trying to attack. Zero activated his Z-rapier and attempted to catch it as it missed due to his sidestep. But the bat shifted its flight just enough to corkscrew over the plasma and continue flying by unharmed. It flipped itself around and made an ultrasonic shriek, an attempt to put a crack in their armor.

Axl then fired at the bat; the bullet moved much faster than the blade, and so the small mechaniloid had no time to dodge it. The gun firing made a distinctive sound, but not loud enough to cause the whole area to become alert. " _Agile little bugger,"_ Axl said over their com line.

Zero's cheeks were turning slightly pink, and not from the chill. " _You got that right,"_ he messaged back. They continued on their way.

Before long, four of the ice bats appeared, having been alerted by their fallen comrade. Zero did his best to slice the wings off the things, but they kept twisting out of his way. On the other hand, Axl had no trouble picking the bats off, even from a distance. But he could tell that his partner was getting frustrated. He did have his own buster arm, but that weapon was very noisy. They didn't want to alert their target to their presence too soon.

" _I've still got that Eagle Eye FM in my pockets,"_ he offered.

" _No, I don't want to risk overloading my system with those,"_ Zero stated again.

" _But all we've run into are these bats."_

" _I know,"_ he replied, a scowl appearing on his face. _"I wish I had a flamethrower about now."_

Axl grinned. " _Yeah, that would be sweet."_

And they continued running into those bats and Zero could not hit a single one of them. He was almost embarrassed enough to have his face match his armor; that, or he was just that angry. Not wanting to take the brunt of that anger, Axl kept quiet.

But when they ran into a group of seven ice bats, Zero tensed, then turned to him. "Fine, give me that **** Eagle Eye. I should be able to handle it, but you might want to keep clear."

"All right," Axl said, then took it out of his armor pocket and handed it to Zero. He stepped back, not even taking out some of the bats first. Might as well let him get revenge on those little beasties.

Zero had gotten FM slots in one of his recent upgrades, which had been fairly standard for the organization. They could only manage three slots for him, although that may have been a good thing. Once they realized that he had unique problems with force metals, he hadn't been asked to use them. But this once, when nothing else was working for him and he was being shown up by goddamn little bats, he installed the Eagle Eye force metal.

Immediately, he felt a burning sensation near the force metal. That always happened. Luckily, it didn't spread this time. The metal started getting in tune with his targeting, agility, and hand-eye coordination programs. For a moment, there was an out of tune feeling for him as he slashed at the most foolhardy of the seven bats and still missed. But then his programs and the force metal came to an agreement. He started to see when the bats did their avoidance corrections and managed his own corrections to actually hit them. And once he could hit them, they dropped like flies. That was still frustrating to Zero, but at least he'd gotten back at the bats.

" _Are you doing all right?"_ Axl asked.

" _It hurts my arm, but I'm in the clear. I think I'll keep this on, though. The 121st Unit is an air borne squadron."_

" _Right."_

Then there were more squeals from more bats. This time, they brought someone larger with them, a green and white avian reploid that seemed to be a hummingbird. His wings blurred into a haze behind him as he hovered in front of them. Along with the ice bats, there were a few fire bats of flickering red bodies. "And just what are you two doing, lurking around here?" Sineswiper demanded to know out loud.

"We're here to take you out for betraying the Maverick Hunters," Zero said, keeping his blade out in front of him. "Sineswiper, you've made the wrong choice."

"Are you so sure about that?" he asked. He kept shifting position, to keep from being an easy target. "I don't think you realize the potential that force metal gives us. But I wouldn't mind demonstrating for you." He unleashed a white wind-based boomerang at them.

Both of them dodged away, but the weapon started to follow Zero. The bats then joined in, swooping at the pair and launch breath attacks of ice and fire. Axl shot out two ice bats, then fired at Sineswiper. Amazingly, the hummingbird reploid managed to dodge his bullet, then air dashed over to him while attempting to impale him with the spear-like beak he had. Axl dropped on his back to avoid it, fired up as he passed by, then rolled onto his feet so that he was facing their enemy again.

In a second, Zero dashed over to them and swung his blade at Sineswiper's head. The hummingbird started to dodge; Zero started to correct his swing. Sinswiper made to feint the dodge and shot a wind burst at point blank range to Zero's face. Angered again, Zero swept his blade's momentum around and cut off the reploid's beak.

That was all in about the amount of time that Axl could have blinked. Was Sineswiper using a speed boosting force metal? As well as something that made him dodge so insanely fast. "You're using force metals in a way that's almost like cheating," Axl called out, shooting at Sineswiper.

Who dodged, of course. "Cheating? I suppose if you want to be uptight about it. But that means that you S rank hunters can be outclassed by anyone. Even my little bats are causing you trouble."

Zero narrowed his eyes at the hummingbird reploid, turning red in the face again.

But Sineswiper wasn't looking directly at him. He pulled out a blue force metal and a weapon capsule. "I heard that you refused even the great leaders of our Rebellion. So I suppose that I'll have to open your minds myself." He then tossed the items into the air, causing a momentary fireball. The metal glowed brightly before exploding in a shower of sparks and fragments.

Axl cringed as an unexpected wave of energy struck his body. All that had happened was that little piece of metal exploding, but it felt like an invisible tidal wave had rushed by. And it gave him that odd tingling sensation that sometimes happened when he used multiple high strength metals. Those things made one stronger; a reploid with enough metals could be capable of anything… no, that wasn't right, Axl told himself. That was like cheating. But the metal's explosion somehow tried to tempt him into cheating too.

And then he got a message over his com link that he had hoped he would never hear. _"Ignition flash point_ ," Zero told him.

"What the hell?" Axl shouted, stumbling back and bracing himself.

"It's the energy of the force…" Sineswiper started to say.

Axl fired at him to get him to interrupt the lecture. "Not you; I've got bigger problems than you right now."

Insulted, the hummingbird reploid fumed at that. "What?" he asked in a demanding tone, causing the air around him to blur in power. He then noticed that Axl was looking somewhere behind him. Sineswiper moved aside, turning to see what. But that was a mistake; Zero was standing there with a faint red aura around his body. Seeing the movements as a threat, Zero dashed to him, slamming his plasma blade into the hummingbird's body. That one blow destroyed him. Zero then turned to Axl and rushed at him.

'Ignition flash point' was the current code for when Zero felt his internal virus rapidly increase in power. It was a warning that it could quickly overwhelm him and he was trying to fight it off. And anyone who knew the code would know that he could snap at any provocation. Something about the force metal exploding must have done that. But why?

Axl didn't have time to think of that. He rolled aside to get out of danger, then dashed ahead to where he saw a faint green afterimage of Sineswiper above his body. While it was something he couldn't fully explain, when he jumped through the afterimage, his body recorded data about the fallen reploid's DNA. Turning as he landed, he faced off against Zero again. He really did not want to fight against a Maverick Zero. But if he had to, he had to do it.

Zero had spun around too in order to face him. However, the aura was weaker than Axl expected, and his blade was trembling. He was doing his best to fight it off. Axl had been advised that if Zero was like this, it was best not to move or give him an excuse to attack. But he noticed a few things. One, the aura was brighter near the Eagle Eye metal that Zero had equipped. Two, there were still several bats around; now that they had shaken off the surprise of their master getting killed, they were calling for reinforcements and looking to attack again.

One fire bat swooped and set Zero off again.

Quickly, Axl transformed himself into Sineswiper. He did not have the absurd boosts of the force metals. But he did have a hovering and flight capability, which meant that he could get out of Zero's blade range. He watched warily for Zero to activate his Z-buster, but he was too focused on the bats around him.

That gave him a chance. Axl located a frequency to speak to the bats. "Steal his force metal!" he ordered them. "Then bring it back to me!"

He got several affirmative statements from the bats as they switched tactics. A group of the ice bats got Zero's attention while a fire bat dove for the force metal, grabbed it with its teeth, then started to pull it out. Although Zero noticed it, the other bats kept him from doing anything about the theft. The fire bat got the metal popped out, then bolted towards Axl as Sineswiper.

Nodding to the mechaniloid, he took the metal. "Good bat."

In response, the aura around Zero lessened. He shut off his blade and swiped his arm at the bats, but without as much venom as before. "Will to dream," and then he promptly passed out. He had cut his own consciousness in order to circumvent the virus' efforts against him.

The bats then flew to Axl. From this, he could tell that they weren't quite smart enough to realize that their actual master in Sineswiper was dead on the field. They simply thought that he was the real deal and were going to follow his lead as usual.

Axl hovered down to Zero and discovered that this form was not terribly good at landing. All well. He reviewed what X and Zero had told him to do in case something like this happened. At the time, he had thought that they were being paranoid. After all, Zero was strong enough to keep the virus in him under control, right? But now he was grateful that they had drilled the routine into him. He just wished that he knew why Zero had suddenly gone bonkers there.

First thing first, he needed some repair nanites. However, he should not place Zero into ordinary repair pods at this stage. Things had to be done with extreme caution. "Okay bats, I have a big job for you. I need the following items." Then he listed off a bunch of stuff that he could cobble a repair system together with. This was a reploid factory, after all, so the items should be around. He would need not only the nanites, but also a separate power generator, a virus resistant monitoring device, cables, and other things.

The bats flew off. While Axl wasn't sure how well they'd do, he needed to cover some tracks so as not to raise alarm with the Rebellion. He took the force metals off Sineswiper's body, then picked him up and placed him in a disposal bin. Then he covered up Zero's body with snow. He'd be all right in the cold for now.

The bats started coming back in with the supplies. Axl awkwardly landed on the ground as a hummingbird reploid and started checking them out for anything that could cause a problem. Once he was satisfied with the safety of the arrangement, he started hooking pieces together to get Zero some support in fighting off the virus.

Once that was running, he sent the bats away to watch over certain areas. Now it was just a waiting game.

* * *

 

She had light red armor, not enough to call pink, but not fully red either. While many female reploids had skirts with their armor, she didn't. It was part of her design. Like her light green hair which was always in a ponytail. It actually had a hidden core which acted as a support, allowing her to place her weapon sheath in the end coil of her ponytail. The sheath looked like a fancy hair decoration, so she could bluff to most people that she was unarmed. Although, she could hide weapons in more places than just her hair.

"And that's how the Rebellion has so many of those Preon mechaniloids on hand," she said.

In a seat across from her, another woman nodded. She dressed in dark green armor, with mirrored yellow visor to muddle her identity. But they knew each other. "I see. Nice work, Marino, but you're getting a little too fond of telling others what you are. At least, what they see of you."

"Hey, image is important," she replied. "A lot of people think I must be kidding when I act so blunt. They didn't expect me to run off with their elite Preons, after all."

"True. I will study and make good use of those."

"So what did you call me back early for? Something big come up?"

She nodded. "Yes. Remember how we've suspected that Professor Gaudile has had something big hidden in his forest lab for the past three years? There's been a leak and we know what it is."

"Really, that guy? What's he up to?"

The engineer closed her eyes. "Something that could be very dangerous, very profitable, and revolutionary, all at once. Gaudile has created something called the Force Metal Generator."

"As in, a power plant?" Marino asked.

She shook her head. "No. He can create new force metals."

Her jaw dropped slightly, but then closed into a smile. "Really? That would be hugely profitable. How's he doing it?"

"There's not enough information to know," she replied. "Unfortunately, I'm not the only one who learned of this. Dr. Psyche knows too. Gaudile has made an admirable effort to stay neutral in this conflict. However, this leak will force him to choose a side, or be killed for his stubbornness. We should… impress upon him the harsh consequences of his choices, while keeping the generator out of the hands of those madmen in the Rebellion."

"Huh." She looked to the other. "So are you siding with the Resistance for now?"

She looked back without flinching. "I have my reasons for wanting to stay in the background; you know of this. And while I hold some respect for Epsilon himself, I don't care for his followers. Marino, your next task is to acquire the Force Metal Generator and bring it back here. If things turn sour, try to make sure that Gaudile gets out alive, either to the Resistance or out of the city."

"And what do you intend to do with the generator?" Marino asked in a teasing manner.

She chuckled and put her hand to her chin. "Well study it, of course. But I think I would return it to him eventually. When he's out of danger."

Marino got out of her chair. "Sounds like fun. I'll do it." She bowed and got a response of the same.

* * *

 

Nana felt anxious, jumpy. She worried with every message that popped onto her computer console that another attack was starting. While the Rebellion did send Preons to attack, it was not in the massive waves they had before. And while it was nice to get some quiet rest time, she was getting antsy. Doing nothing was not like her. Also, it would be easier on her if she could tell when an attack was coming, and do something about it.

And the man near her on the air bus wasn't helping any. She had wanted to use an alternate passage to the Governor's Precinct, which was much quieter, but that route was out. Instead, she had to take the bus and this large male reploid was looking at her a bit much.

"Hey there babe," he finally said. "I don't see you around often."

What was she supposed to do? She wasn't used to dealing with such situations. Clasping her hands in her lap, she said, "Um, hello."

"What're you doing? Going to take a walk around the garden area? It's a bit messed up, but there's some nice plants still thriving."

"I, I'm going to work," she said, looking ahead so that she wasn't looking at him, but could see if he was going to do anything out of the corner of her eyes. She could remember some of the things Silver Horn had done to her, and the look in this man's eyes reminded her of it. But how did she get him to leave her alone?

"So what do you do outside of work?" he asked, starting to move by the inch closer to her.

"Governor's Precinct dock coming up," the driver said. "This is a restricted access dock, so please leave quickly."

Thank goodness. She got up quickly, before the bus fully stopped. "Pardon me." She stumbled a bit and had to grab a pole to avoid getting knocked down by the stop. But then she left through the door and into the Governor's Precinct. Away from the unfamiliar and back to the familiar.

She walked into the command center and was momentarily thrown off by seeing someone else in her chair. It was X, absorbed in running the city. R was there too, observing the map and making some plans. But when Mikey whistled a cheery greeting, he looked up, then was surprised. "Nana? You're back sooner than we expected."

"Hu-hello Chief R," she said, bowing. "I feel all right now, so I came in to do some work today."

He got up and came over to her, but not as threateningly as the man on the bus. "Are you sure about that? We don't want to make you work if you're not ready for it."

She put her hand to her chest. "Thank you, but I think I'll feel better if I get back to my usual routine. My mind just isn't sure what to do with itself when it doesn't have the entire city to monitor."

"I see. I'm very glad to have you back, and well." He went over to the operator's station and tapped X on the shoulder.

There was a brief dazed look to his eyes as his mind started to detach from the city network. Nana wondered if she looked like that when she was working. Then he focused on the room and noticed them. "Yes…? Oh, Nana, good to see you up." He smiled warmly.

"Yes, thank you," she replied. "I wanted to work again. I get to missing the mind of the city after long enough."

"You sure about that?"

She smiled slightly, glad for their concern. It was good after Silver Horn's threats. "Yes it's okay."

"All right then. Give me a moment to log out. Will it keep the active programs I was working on up?"

"Yes, if you ask for it to transfer work to the next operator."

He nodded, then set about to doing so. Then he took off the headset and handed it to her, getting out of the chair. "You were right about the complexity of this particular position. There is such a depth to this network that's absolutely fascinating. But a little dangerous to get so into the details that you miss everything else."

"Well that's my job to keep you operators from doing that," R said cheerily.

"Yes, it is," Nana said, sitting in the chair and putting the headset on. It was a little odd to find the seat warm from someone else. But then, it was X who had been here… reluctantly pushing a slight giddiness away, she logged in and was soon immersed in the city network once more.

X seemed to have run things well. Of course, he had more systems on self governing that she would normally have. The Tianna District network was a mess, but they were doing reconstruction and a lot of the automated systems were confused by it. There were also remnants of the Rebellion's databases there, some still under firewall. While she could recall how to get through some, that would have to be put off. She needed to finish the jobs X was working on, then find out what they were planning next for the Resistance. Before long, she had a large list of tasks that needed attending to. Just like normal.

It was good to be back.

* * *

 

Zero's senses were not giving him any information. But that was to be expected. His focus was entirely inward. Although he wasn't sure why, the explosion of that one force metal had managed to stir up the virus that was always with him. They had yet to find out how to get it out of him, aside from methods that would destroy him with the virus. As he had a few reasons to live for, he had yet to consider those options for long.

It hadn't done anything for some time now, although it wasn't entirely dormant again. This was going to complicate this mission. He could head back to the Tokyo base to get it forced into dormancy. However, that process took several hours and only a few people were approved to do it. Even if they left this place for a day, the conflict was active here and anything could happen.

And they still had no information on X. That worried him, that they had found no body, not even a trace. The ocean was deep here, and his body may have just sunk too deep. Or someone might have gotten a hold of it and was planning something very dangerous to the world.

A satellite scan of the ocean could reveal the location of X's body. However, that would require a clear signal. With the intense interference to long distance signals, there was no way they could perform such a scan. That meant that they had to figure out where the interference was coming from, then take it completely out.

After Zero sensed no further activity from the virus for ten minutes, he could tell that it was in a passive state. It was still a threat, but he would have time to catch it again. In the meantime, he was going to have to avoid using any force metals. And being around any explosions. He wished X were around; he might have been able to explain that.

He started his awakening processes, careful to keep an eye on the viral programming as he did so. He only moved up stages in consciousness when he was certain that it was doing nothing. From many close calls over the years, he knew this was paranoia worth holding on to. And now there would be a test to see if Axl was suitably paranoid about this too.

At a certain point, he picked up activity from a healing support system. Not a standard one, given it had been put together with whatever was on hand. It was a deaf mute standalone system. Good. Zero pushed himself into full awareness, opening his eyes.

It was still freezing and he was damp. Ice crystals had formed over his eyelids, snapping and flying away when he opened his eyes. There was a lot of snow in his view, but he could see the gray cloudy sky through small holes. Buried in snow? So Axl hadn't even moved him from the spot he had fallen.

And he didn't see his partner. He got up. As soon as he stirred, he heard Axl call out, "Hey, you Zero over there?"

"That's who I am," he said. He pulled himself out of the snow slowly, detaching the wires.

"How'd you do in your struggle?"

"It's been very tedious," he replied. "It's lurking now." He glanced down and spotted something black. Kneeling down, he brushed aside some snow to reveal, "Is this a bomb?" He glanced over to where Axl was sitting ten yards away.

He smiled sheepishly. "Just in case. Since, you know, this is the first time I've had to deal with that with you."

Approving, he said, "Good precaution. And nice bomb. You might want to keep it in case we need something like this."

"Yeah, I could do that. Later, though. How do you feel?"

"Tired, achy, and freezing cold," he replied. Good, he had the routine down and wasn't taking any unnecessary risks. Zero reached back and pulled his hair forward. "Aw shoot, the snow's gone and made ice crystals. No wonder my head feels so heavy."

Axl chuckled. "You could use that as a weapon now."

Zero tilted his head back and forth. "Not quite. I'd need a heavier weight at the end. Well this is going to put a bunch of hurdles in our mission." He waited.

"We can't do anything for twenty-four hours," Axl said. "You need the time to make sure that nothing's going to happen."

"Right." He looked back and bowed his head. "You're handling this well so far. I'm sorry to put you through this without warning."

"It's all right," Axl said, smiling. "We had no idea something like that could trigger this in you."

"No kidding. I always knew that I was sensitive to those things, but that was just crazy. I'm going to find a good lookout spot to meditate."

"Right."

Once Zero started walking off, Axl got up to pick up his handmade bomb. The blond hunter gave him time to do that, then went off to find a spot. He was going to have to watch himself, but Axl would also be there watching him.


	16. Gaudile Laboratory

Butler… no, now he was Steel Massimo. Steel Massimo walked through the halls of the Governor's Precinct, heading for the lounge area near the command center. X had called him up here, saying that they had a mission to go on. While it had taken some time, he felt he had made peace with himself. He was still saddened by the loss of his mentor, but he would do his best, both in memory of him, and the Lagrano family. And all the others who were working so hard to reclaim Giga City. Maybe he wasn't the best, but he was going to try his hardest to be at his best.

Given the structure of the Massimo armor, he found it hard to sit like this. But he was comfortable enough standing near a couch while Spider was lounging in it. The mercenary had his feet up on the table and his hat tilted forward, like he was napping. Just by sight, Massimo wasn't sure what he was doing, so kept quiet just in case he was resting.

But Spider did shift his hat up just before X and R came into the room. The Maverick Hunter was back in battle form, with his helmet on and his yellow holoscarf trailing behind him. He and the Chief sat in another couch. "Thanks for coming," X said.

"So what're we planning on now?" Spider asked. "We already fended off the day's Preon invasion."

"We have a diplomatic mission to carry out," X said.

"Diplomatic?" Spider asked, then snorted. "Then what've you got me and the big guy here for?'

"Because it could turn into a rescue mission at a moment's notice," X said, in complete seriousness.

"We've been staging interceptions on behalf of the forest district where Gaudile Laboratories is located," R said. "We have been unable to communicate with Professor Gaudile himself, but the Rebellion has been putting heavy pressure on him lately to join them. Thus far, he has claimed a neutral position. We hope that with our actions, we have proven to him that we have good intentions."

"The main purpose of this mission is to locate and speak with the Professor," X continued. "We could use his assistance, as a strong leader for our engineering core. If all goes well, we should only need to talk with him to get the deal made."

"But I've heard from the others that the Rebellion has been increasing their aggressiveness to force Gaudile to join them," Butler spoke up.

The two commanders nodded. R said, "Exactly, which is why you may need to rescue Gaudile from the Rebellion if they take our actions as reason to invade. Just remember, don't act too hasty while this is still a diplomatic mission. Gaudile has issues with violence and will refuse to work with us if you come off as too aggressive. If we must, we could help him leave the city so that the Rebellion does not acquire him and his technologies. We would rather him join our group, though."

* * *

 

Gaudile Laboratories was a peaceful place, most of the time. It was formed high in the canopy of the forest district of Giga City. Lately, it was something of a fad to have areas of wilderness in the design of a city. Given what had happened in the past century, actual wilderness was hard to come by and what little there was was highly protected by the government. So many cities came up with mechanized wilderness, with solar generators disguised as trees; these machines also functioned as air filters. It was quite the competition to have increasingly realistic wilderness in civilization.

Giga City's forest district was no exception. With mecha trees designed after the giant trees of the rainforests, it had a canopy of green that soared high above the ocean surface. The floor level had rich smelling dirt, exotic looking orchids which were really biomechanical replicas, robotic bushes that were so realistic that they produced edible berries, and all kinds of animal mechaniloids. And way up in the canopy, there were the same kinds of things, only adapted to look like the high altitude ecological systems that had been common in the distant past of the Earth. The district even had regular rainfalls, occasional thunderstorms, and daily mists. It was one of the best.

And the laboratory that had been made for Professor Gaudile did everything it could to blend into its environment and not hamper it in any way. It was much like an extensive treehouse, with hidden elevators, long hallways with full glass panoramas, round rooms that allowed some trees to grow right through them, and mechanical ivy plants that hung from the tops and over the sides. When the rains came down, it was beautiful. When the sun was out, it was like being outdoors.

Cinnamon loved this place. Even though she had known nothing else, she loved her home. She spent many hours in the glass hallways, watching the rain, the canopy, and the animal mechaniloids. It was never the same twice.

The past few months, things had become different in other ways. She watched through the glass and through the leaves as two air ships battled it out with each other. She had learned the markings of the Rebellion as one to be afraid of, for they came in unexpectedly and fired into the rainforest, hoping to strike the laboratory halls. Due to their attacks, a few passages had been closed off for damage. The Professor had said that none of the most valuable rooms or items had been damaged. Even so, the Rebellion forces frightened her.

And she had learned the markings of the Resistance. They were different, even though the Professor claimed that they were no different than the Rebellion. For a while now, the Resistance ships came in and fought the Rebellion ships. They never fired at the laboratory, except by accident. When the Rebellion ships retreated, the Resistance ships would fly over quietly, examining what had been done. Then they retreated too, heading back to wherever they had come from.

The Rebellion was trying to hurt them. The Resistance seemed to be helping them. Due to this, Cinnamon wasn't sure why the Professor was so insistent that they were both wrong and not to be trusted. Sometimes even he could not come up with a good explanation. But then, he was her father and she loved him too much to bother him a lot about it. Still, she wondered why both groups were so interested in them.

Cinnamon's communicator alerted her. "Cinnamon, please come back to my office," the Professor said, sounding nervous. "And don't hesitate."

"Okay, I'll be right there," she said. She turned and hurried that way. The winged ornament on her blond ponytail fluttered as she moved along.

After traveling down an elevator, she went down a short hallway into his office. It was one of the large rooms, but the trunk of a tree was in the middle of it. All kinds of crates were around as usual, acting as storage and countertops. A large computer station was at one edge of the room, with a dozen screens and a wide curved input board that was low to the ground. This was because Professor Gaudile was not very tall.

He was supposedly a platypus, and his basic body did fit that form, with a mammalian body and a duck bill. But he also had an assortment of eight arachnid-like arms sprouting out of a backpack unit that he always wore. And since the top of his head was not quite at three feet, everything had to be made low for him, or with access platforms he could use.

"Good afternoon, Professor," Cinnamon said cheerily. Maybe he was just upset over all the battles and needed some cheering up.

"Afternoon, Cinnamon," he replied, still looking at the screens. "I'm not so sure about the good part, though. We've had three attacks today."

"We're doing okay," she said. "They can't find the halls and the rooms, so they're just shooting blindly."

"Still, eventually they're going to hit something vital." He rubbed his forehead. "Oh, why can't they just take a hint and leave me alone?"

She knelt down to be more on his level. Supposedly, she was small for a humanioid reploid, but he was even shorter. "Can't we leave the city for a while? They might forget about us then."

"Oh, not now. I have a project running and it's hardwired into the forest. I can't leave Giga City. But then…" he sighed, then turned to her. "Cinnamon, I'm going to have to ask you to go to the biological storage library and stay there for the rest of the day. You may have to spend the night there as well."

Puzzled, she put her hand on his head. "In the bio library? Why?"

"I'm getting signs that there will be another wave and the bio library is the most secure place in the labs. I'm making arrangements to move to another location in the forest. I didn't want to have to go there, but neither side is giving up. You stay in the bio library until we can move ourselves down there. I'm shifting data in preparation for this."

It didn't always make sense to her, but her father knew best. "Okay Professor. I'm going to my room to get my things."

"I'll be watching out for you until you get there. I've moved a few of your things already, so don't take long."

"Sure." She got up and headed to the residential area.

Professor Gaudile sighed and turned back to the screen to keep an eye on her. She didn't realize how important she was. Of course he had told her about it, but she just hadn't realized how groundbreaking her design was. She was just two years old, after all.

Just two. He didn't want her to have to face such a harsh reality like war just yet. That was partly why he had cut off the forest district as soon as Epsilon started making moves to take over the city. But then, the power of the Force Metal Generator was something that would inspire all sorts of greed and envy. He planned on designing a guardian reploid for her, someone that was powerful and certain to be trustworthy. If he programmed the guardian, then he could rest assured that it would be loyal and have her best interests in mind.

Then again, perhaps he should have built that guardian first, before delving into his fascinating new research.

* * *

 

Marino was stuck. Figuratively speaking, of course. She had made it into the forest district and even into the entrance to the Gaudile labs themselves. However, there was a trio of heavily armed black Preons sitting in the first room, with orders to destroy anyone not of the Rebellion. She wouldn't mind taking on one of those. Not three.

Worried about her mission, she had taken the time to carefully hack into the lab's network through her wireless computer and see if the Rebellion had indeed taken over the forest district. Not yet, she learned, although they had muscled their way in and were in the process of doing so. But Gaudile's security mechanisms were cunning, and even they were having trouble making progress.

Despite the cunning, the master thief had found out where the Force Metal Generator currently was. It was in a place labeled the biological sample library. These days, any bio library would have intense security to preserve precious samples. So it was the perfect place to stick a highly valuable experimental device. Looking further into things, she had figured out two routes to the library. The problem was, she needed to get past those three black Preons. And those things were intense. They weren't like ordinary mechaniloids, which could be distracted by throwing a pebble at the opposite wall. No, the Preons would back into a doorway and look over the whole room if a pebble hit a wall.

Something unexpected happened then, a lucky accident. The white teleport pod in the entrance room suddenly glowed, announcing an incoming transport. Three reploids entered the labs . A mismatched trio, they were made up of a huge guy bearing a long lance, a lanky fellow with a cool hat and a weird arm mounted machine, and a man in blue armor whose only real distinctive feature was a yellow holoscarf.

The Preons saw them and immediately went into attack mode. "Invaders!" one called. "Do not intrude upon the work of the mighty Rebellion."

"Whoa, big talk from a simplistic droid," the lanky fellow said.

Both sides attacked. Marino watched critically as they went at it. Soon, she identified the blue fellow as the most experienced of the lot; he was careful where he aimed and could pull off some pretty improbable shots, like firing past his large comrade to strike the Preon at the same time it got impaled with the lance. The one with the cool hat was cocky, although he had a respectable amount of skill with his exploding cards. The big guy was much less polished, even though he had the most damaging blows. A curious group.

When the Preons were gone, the leader of the group (the blue man, of course) started ahead. "If they're already posted here, then the Rebellion must be taking over. Let's get a move on."

"There goes diplomacy," the lanky fellow joked, then the three took off down the hall.

Marino dropped out of her spot and ran after them. She kept her steps light and soundless, and attempted to use the odd twisting form of the halls to keep out of sight. A smile played on her face as she entered game mode. To chase, but not to be seen.

The first fork, and the most important, was coming up fast. She hurried a little to see them pause, then take the right hall. Marino darted behind them into the left hall; route number two it was. As interesting as those fellows were, she had a mission and she was focused on it.

"But thanks for knocking off the guards for me," she said softly as she went through the first door.

* * *

 

As X, Massimo, and Spider made their way through the laboratory, they ran into many mechaniloids of the Rebellion. There were more of the giant monkeys, and green mantises, and strangely flat bug-like droids that were incredibly agile. And lots and lots of Rabbids, hopping red rabbit mechaniloids that had machine guns installed in their behinds. "Who the heck designed those things to fart bullets?" Spider asked after they had defeated a group of ten of them.

"It was an issue with getting all of the required systems in that small of a body," X said, but left it at that.

The labs were a maze, with elevators, multiple hallways, twisting hallways, spiral hallways, and dead ends that could have made it take forever to get through. However, Nana had gotten them a clean map of the labs, giving them the shortest route to Gaudile's office, which was the most likely place to find him or figure out where he was. X noted some Rebellion mechaniloids wandering around dead end hallways. That may have been a good sign that they did not have the same help of a good map.

They came to another one of those ascending corkscrew hallways when Spider raised his hand. "Whoa, we've got trouble. Security panels ahead."

Ahead of them, there was what seemed to be an ordinary glass hallway with wood paneling for a floor. But there was a reddish glint to spots. They didn't cover the hall, but there was a definite plan to pick up on any intruders.

X could figure out, from the looks of them, what would set them off and what wouldn't. But to test the knowledge of the other two, he asked, "What kind of security?"

"Eh, pressure points, I would say," Spider said, looking pleased to pass on this knowledge. "But they're only in spots on the floor. These things, you can avoid if you get some air between you and the floor. Massimo, your hover skates should pass them with no problem. The two of us are just going to have to make very careful dashes over them."

"Sounds like a plan," X said. So they were able to pass over the security panels without setting off any one of them.

* * *

 

Gaudile felt panicky and cornered, but he did his best to hide it. Or at least obscure his words enough to not help the Rebellion at all. "Dr. Psyche, what are you doing in here?" he demanded.

Psyche was an even stranger reploid, with a large head (especially the top of it). But this was on an almost comically small body that swayed and had poor movement programming. Every single gesture he made was exaggerated, such as the low bow that should have made him tumble forward so far that he'd end up on his back. "I am here to visit you, of course. But your little traps and security mechanisms made it such a hassle. How in the world do you get any work done when you can't find your way anywhere?"

"It makes sense to me," he muttered. "Listen, I've told you time and time again that I am not working for your lying Rebellion. You claim to have high and lofty ideas, but you deal in brutal and dirty tactics."

"Still stubborn?" He sighed and rambled his way forward. "You're about to learn that the Rebellion has the power to do whatever it sets its mind to, despite whatever you may try. Now, I came here in person because I've heard of a project of yours that greatly intrigues me."

"The efficiency project for the mecha trees?" Gaudile asked, sounding confused. He was actually worried about something else.

"No, fool. I have no time for such paltry projects. No, I am talking about your Force Metal Generator."

He clacked his bill. Of course it was that. He was afraid that something had leaked out. Although he wasn't sure how it had leaked; criminals were always trying to get into his lab network. "I don't know what you're talking about," he claimed.

"Don't you dare lie to me, old friend," Psyche said in a calm yet irrational tone. "I know what you've been up to. And, I'm going to find out where your generator is." He then whipped out a syringe and injected some kind of nanite swarm into Gaudile's system.

Grimacing, he rearranged his internal defenses to high. He felt spots of pain as the nanites set out to attack. "Leave my laboratory now."

* * *

 

There were a number of unusual security systems in this lab. Marino made a game out of avoiding them. The pressure tiles, the tiny eye bots, the trip wires… the Rebellion mechaniloids. Fortunately, the latter ones were more spread out than the trio in the entry way, so she could knock them out before they noticed her or avoid them entirely. She could have skipped down the final hall to the bio library and still not have been detected. She didn't, but it was an amusing thought.

She paused before entering it. Here was a bit of trouble. There was just a door in her way… but it was rigged to make noise when it opened. On close examination, she could see no way to bypass the door, like leaving the hall and entering through a vent or something. So if anyone was inside, they would know that she was coming in. But the Generator was in there. Marino nodded to herself, then walked towards the door, causing it to open up with a rattle.

"Hello?" a girl's voice called out. She didn't sound too concerned, for some reason. "Who is it?"

And of course, someone would be here. Marino walked into the room casually, like she was supposed to be here. It was amazing what a confident stride could accomplish when a sneaking tiptoe would draw suspicion. Glancing around, she saw that the samples were in rows of stacks of metal safe boxes. But, only one person seemed to be in here.

That person was a small female reploid who had the relative age of a young teenager, like fourteen or fifteen. She had armor formed like that of a nursing reploid, but it was all white with gold and silver trim. Her helmet was a bit large, and was marked with a red cross. So probably not battle oriented. The girl had soft brown eyes and long blond hair in a tight braid. A pair of yellow wings came from a hair ornament, giving her a kind of angelic look. She had a length of steel cord in her hand.

Either someone was trying too hard to be cute or was trying to hide a nurse fetish, Marino thought. She kind of doubted the latter; from her employer's stories, Professor Gaudile wasn't that kind of guy. But he would be the kind of guy who would overdo cute.

So, Marino smiled sweetly. "Well hello girl," she said. "I didn't expect to run into anyone else here."

She giggled. "Me either. But, you must have permission if you can get in here. I'm Cinnamon, Professor Gaudile's daughter." She bowed. "Pleased to meet you."

"The same to you. I'm Marino, the petty thief."

Cinnamon looked puzzled. "Huh?"

Still smiling, Marino spoke in a matter of fact tone. "I steal stuff from people, especially technology. Everybody's got to make a living, you know."

Smiling back, Cinnamon said, "You're silly. A real thief wouldn't be so honest about it."

And that's what she counted on. "Ach, you caught me. I suppose I ought to be nice to you then. But I am looking for something in particular. Could you help me find it?"

"Well that depends," the girl replied. "The Professor wouldn't like it if you messed with his biological samples. They're important for academic reasons."

"Not those. I'm looking for something called a Force Metal Generator. Have you heard about it?"

She seemed surprised. "Oh, you know about that?"

Good, this was turning out nicely. "Yes, I like to keep up-to-date on that kind of thing."

Cinnamon smiled. "Wow, you must be a friend of the professor then, if you've heard about it. But not close enough to know what it is." She giggled.

"He does like to keep his secrets," Marino replied. "Could you tell me about it?"

She leaned forward. "Well, I guess so. But he hasn't released the papers yet, so you can't let it go out far."

She only meant to take it back to her employer, so that wouldn't be too far. "I won't, I promise."

"Okay then. Here, watch." Cinnamon put her hands to her chest, then closed her eyes and focused inward. Marino did watch.

As she did, a glow of white light appeared from a blue near-transparent panel on Cinnamon's chest. It did so for a few minutes, then died off. The girl then slid the panel aside, plucked out an oval piece of force metal, shut the panel, and handed it to Marino.

"There you go," she said. "It's an Eagle Eye."

Marino looked over it and realized that it was indeed an Eagle Eye force metal. A bit common place, but quite useful. "Wow. So, you make them."

She nodded proudly. "Yup, the Force Metal Generator is me! I'm still figuring out the system, though, and I only have formulas for a few of them." She glanced at the steel cord in her hand, then bit off a piece of it and chewed on that.

"Huh. That's quite a handy trick, and a good way to hide it."

"You can keep that one; it's okay."

"Thanks." She installed it onto her FM slots. "If that's how things are, then I suppose I have to steal you."

Cinnamon giggled. "Isn't that kidnap me?"

"If you want to put it that way," Marino said in an exaggerated manner. "I told you: I take things from other people. Especially new technologies. And now I'm taking you."

"Oh, is this about the move to a safer location?" Cinnamon asked naively. "Because the Professor told me to wait for him here. The Rebellion ships can't damage this room."

"Things change quickly in a time of war," Marino said. "Come on, kid, I'll get you to safety." That, at least, was still being honest.

"Okay," she agreed. She picked up a bag of her things and willingly followed Marino out of the library.

Marino loved it when things went her way.

* * *

 

Dr. Psyche had moved on to more painful torture nanites, but Professor Gaudile wasn't known as stubborn for nothing. The platypus felt like his insides were freezing and corroding at the same time. However, he knew it was just the nanites messing with his nervous system. And he would not buckle under pressure. "I… am not… letting my technologies… be used for war. Absolutely… not."

But while he was mostly incapacitated, Psyche had gotten into his office computer. "You are too idealistic for your own good," he countered with a twirling hand wave. "War is necessary in order to throw off the system of oppression that had loomed over all of us, especially us reploid engineers. Why must we limit our own creations because the law says so? What about our own evolution? We could be so much more, but those laws ruin any chance of true advancement."

If he wasn't in so much pain, Gaudile would have argued that the laws were there for a reason, that war was a terrible thing, that there had to be other ways to correct what was wrong. That was what he believed and he was going to stick to it. He had once thought he would do so even if it killed him… but he was now worried. If he died, what would happen to his daughter? She wasn't ready to be on her own yet.

Then Psyche thought to look inside the biological storage library. Cinnamon was there, but so was someone else, a female reploid in red armor. While the two of them were talking, they couldn't hear in the office because the audio recorders weren't on. The stranger said something to Cinnamon, which made her pick up her bag and leave the room with her. Why?

"Ci... Cinnamon…" Gaudile said before he thought better of it.

And even if he had remained silent, Psyche had asked the computer who the two females were. "Hey, who is that girl? And… oh ho ho ho, clever Gaudile. Hiding your precious Force Metal Generator inside a reploid! That's something I wouldn't have thought of. Well that solves that issue. Preons, we're going after those two."

Gaudile tried to get up. "No, no you don't…"

Psyche waved to a large monkey mechaniloid, who kicked the platypus into the wall. "You're in no condition to do anything about it. See what your idealism gets you? Utter and complete failure when the strong reploids enter the scene. Let's go!" He headed out the doorway, now with a good map of the facility. He didn't even leave a mechaniloid behind to watch Gaudile.

He should be able to do something. Struggling to get up, he tried walking over to the computer. If he could get there, he could help Cinnamon. It'd end up helping that stranger and thief with her, but that was better then having the Rebellion get a hold of his daughter. Right?

That is, if he could make it to the console.

* * *

 

X, Massimo, and Spider hadn't run into any Preons on this level, which worried the leader. And that worry was validated when they entered the office and found that some conflict had occurred not that long ago. Professor Gaudile was on the floor, alert but trembling in pain.

"Professor!" X ran over and checked on him. "We're here to help you." He got some repair nanites and injected them into Gaudile's systems.

That restored him some. "I thought I said that I wasn't helping anyone active in this war," he grumbled.

"It doesn't matter right now. We'll get you out of here."

"NO, don't bother with me," Gaudile said. "Or if you do, get me to the computer. Those Rebellion fiends are after my daughter."

"That's terrible," Massimo said, as X decided to pick Gaudile up and bring him to the computer as he asked. "Where is she?"

Once he was there, Guadile had his scorpion arms working the input pad. Before long, a picture of two female reploids walking down one of the halls appeared. "Further in, but this red thief came out of nowhere and is trying to kidnap her. Dr. Psyche is closing in on them. I don't care about me, just get Cinnamon away from them."

"So you won't join us, but you'll trust us?" Spider asked.

Gaudile got the door open. "I don't know about you, but I'll trust a Maverick Hunter slightly over everyone else."

X glanced around. "Massimo, you stay here and keep Gaudile safe. Spider, come with me. We'll go after them."

"Roger, dodger," Spider said, running through the door after X.

Massimo gripped his lance. He understood that he was partly getting left behind because X and Spider would need to move fast to intercept Psyche, the thief, and Cinnamon. But he also felt like he was trusted enough to stay behind to protect an important person. "Here's another healing pack for you," Massimo said, setting one on the console. "You work on this and I'll handle any mechanilods that come in here."

"Just as long as she's safe," he muttered.

* * *

 

Marino heard a large group of mechaniloids coming down the hall towards them. "Cinnamon, is there a good place to hide nearby?" While she had a map, personal experience with a place was invaluable.

"To hide?" Cinnamon asked, puzzled.

Then there was a crack of gunfire. Marino would have dodged, but the first shot was too good and knocked her to the ground. In seconds, four black Preons rushed into the room, all focused on attacking the thief. She wasn't built to take a lot of damage at once like that.

"Mar, Marino?" Cinnamon said, stumbling back and sounding like she was going to cry. She had never seen anything like this before. At least, in person. It was different than seeing it in a training video. Mostly because the videos never showed the person actually getting hurt.

"Trying to pre-empt the Rebellion, are you?" Dr. Psyche called out. "Make her suffer."

"P, please, don't," Cinnamon stammered.

"Now, now, dear," Psyche said, summoning strange pointed rocks, which flew over and surrounded her. "The Rebellion needs you and, as your father has found out, we are not taking no for an answer."

"What did you do to the Professor?" Cinnamon asked shakily.

"Punished him for his stubbornness. There can be no true neutrals in this world. Come with me."

"Uuuummm," Cinnamon shivered, then ran over to Marino. This forced the Preons to stop attacking, as they had orders not to hurt her. The blue panel on her chest glowed. "Marino, you'll be okay," she said, placing her hands over Marino's body. A white glow appeared, somehow healing the injuries that the thief had taken.

The scientist reploid smiled, then cackled strangely. "Ah, so is this the power of the Force Metal Generator?" He snatched Cinnamon back upright, causing her to yelp. The glow vanished. "Leave this worthless girl behind. We are leaving, now."

Cinnamon tried to struggle for a moment, but the scientist was stronger than he appeared to be. He dragged her down the hall, with the Preons following after them. Behind them, Marino had slowly started to get back up.

* * *

 

X and Spider dashed down the halls, trying to catch up. Gaudile helped from his office by causing directional arrows on the floor to light up, directing them through the most direct route to intercept. According to his transmissions, he was doing his best to stall Psyche, who now had Cinnamon. X noticed there were security devices here, but they weren't triggering now.

Then they found the hall where the thief was repairing her injuries. She saw them and tried to bluff her way out by shouting, "Hey, what are you two doing here?"

"We're after Psyche to rescue Cinnamon," X called back.

That changed her attitude. "Is that so?" she muttered as they passed by her. Then she came running after them. "I'm going with you then. I stole that girl first and I'm not going to let him get away with this!"

"Not much of a thief, are you, if you go losing your target?" Spider teased her.

She narrowed her eyes at him and told him, "Screw you."

Down a long straight tunnel, they ran through an arched doorway and into a large domed room that seemed like it was inside one of the giant trees (because it was). Dr. Psyche and three black Preons were there, with Cinnamon. The girl was bewildered and frightened, but smiled when she saw the three of them come in.

"Stop, Psyche," X called. The doors all around them beeped, indicating that they had been locked. "We're taking Cinnamon back to her father."

"X?" Psyche asked, bewildered himself now. "What are you doing alive? I thought we had killed you."

"I got better," X said. "Now hand her over."

"Not a chance. Let's get them! Make sure they're all dead this time. Needles, attack!" As the black Preons rushed forward into attack mode, Psyche called up more of those floating rocks. The Needles then began firing small guns at them.

Marino then shone with a bright light as she activated her Hyper mode. Her armor turned black and silver and she began to move incredibly fast, striking the Preons dozens of times before they could block her. As the priority was the girl reploid's safety, X changed his special weapon to Wild Jango's and performed an electric dash past the Preons and the Needles in order to throw Dr. Psyche aside. He then shifted his armor colors from yellow and black to red and silver. A film of protective water sheeting appeared around his body, which covered Cinnamon as well when X grabbed her hand and started guarding her. On his part, Spider was only able to throw one of his cards at a group of needles to obliterate them.

" _Spider, focus on Psyche_ ," X told him over their com link. " _He can just summon more of those needles."_ He used his charged buster shot to fire at the remaining needles, Psyche, and a Preon that Marino had yet to kill.

" _Will do_ ," Spider replied, then threw a card at the scientist's eyes.

Sputtering incoherently in his anger, Psyche summoned more needles and had them fire status shots at him. One of the shots sent so many chaotic signals through Spider's power system that he spontaneously shut down, collapsing on the ground.

"Oh," Cinnamon gasped. "I, I can help, if I get next to him."

X nodded, then fired at Psyche. "Stay close to me," he said, then ran with her across the room, staying between her and the mad scientist.

Marino had burnt through her Hyper mode, and returned to her normal form. She had dispatched the Preons, but was still furious at Psyche. When she darted over and attacked him, X was finally able to see she what she was using: a plasma beam weapon that was either a long knife or a short sword. Even without the energy of Hyper, she still proved nimble and agile, dodging Psyche's flailing attacks while striking him precisely.

Once they reached Spider's position, Cinnamon dropped X's hand and knelt down. The white glow reappeared and she worked on fixing Spider's systems from the sudden overload. His systems were odd, but she was too stressed and frightened of the situation to think on it.

Spider started himself back up and looked concerned. "Umm…"

"Look lively," X called out as he fired his buster gun. They were soon answered by a spray of bullets from the Needles. Cinnamon squealed and put her hands over her head.

Back to alertness, Spider scrambled back upright and flung a card at Psyche. "That's for that cheap DOA attack!" he shouted.

Dr. Psyche's body collapsed from excessive damage. However, there was a mad glint to his eyes and he was grinned. "Oh, you think it's over? Not quite!" Then his head detached from his body, letting it collapse. The head warped and twisted about, then formed into a massive nautilus like reploid, still with Psyche's face, but now under a large horn. He took two large arms and fired strange bursts of energy at them.

Then a transmission came from Gaudile. "Go on the defensive," he advised. "I'm picking up a hyper sensitive counter system which will strike back with more force than you send to it."

"Any weak points that could bypass it?" X asked.

"Over that horn, under the shell… you'll have to find some way past it."

"I'll see about that," Marino transmitted, then jumped onto the mad nautilus and made to attack. She slid off to avoid a counter, then darted back. "It's on sliders, but I can't move it."

"Then we have to figure out how to get him to move that shell piece," X said.

"Duh," Spider responded.

Then Psyche did that himself, pulling the shell back and causing an electric blue glow around the horn. "He's charging some attack," Gaudile told them. "Be careful."

"Yes, but strike hard, now!" X ordered, firing his buster at the revealed weak spot. Spider shuffled his cards for a strong suite, then launched a massive spray of cards at the exposed core. Marino waited for that attack to pass, then leapt back up and slashed deeply into the sliders.

"You'll pay for that," Psyche shouted, sending many blue attack beams all over the room. But it was a very wild attack, barely aimed at all. X reactivated Silver Horn's water casing and dropped down to shield himself and Cinnamon from one of the beams, while the other two dashed out of the way.

But the attack had covered X shifting to his own Hyper form, a black armored version with wild red flames down the sides. "Spider, cover for Cinnamon," he called, then dashed up onto the nautilus and send a strong fire energy into Psyche's damaged core with X Fire's claws. That caused several fires to flash up in his electronics. X dashed way in time to avoid the fiery explosion that preceded Psyche's true death.

With that done, X dropped his Hyper form and returned to Cinnamon and Spider. "Are you all right?" he asked Cinnamon.

"Ye, yeah, I'm okay," she said, still trembling some. "That was frightening. Thank you." She bowed.

He nodded. "We'll get you and your father back to Central Tower and take care of the damage you both have taken. Oh, and you…?" he turned to the thief.

"Marino," she said, walking over to them. "I'm fine; been through worse than that."

"Ah. Well thank you for helping us take out Dr. Psyche. However, I'm putting you under arrest."

She clenched her fist and tensed. "What for?"

"Kidnapping Cinnamon and attempting to steal the Force Metal Generator."

"Isn't that the same thing?" she asked.

"Legally speaking, they're separate crimes and you can be tried for both," X said.

"But she helped us," Cinnamon protested. "And, I agreed to go with her. I could tell right off that she's a good person because of how her love metal feels about her. She was mostly concerned with getting me to a safer place."

"Aahh," Marino said, nearly stammering. She looked aside and blushed, clearly not expecting to hear that.

"So will you forgive her, please?" Cinnamon pleaded.

X looked between the both of them, thinking. Then he nodded. "All right. For that, and since you went with her willingly, I could let it slide this time. But I will be watching news of your actions closely, Marino."

"Eh, heh heh," she said, scratching her head. "Well, what are you doing here anyhow? Working with Gaudile?"

"Not exactly," Spider said. "We're working for the Resistance."

"Hmm… well if you want to keep a close eye on me, would you rather me come with you?" Marino smiled mischievously and winked. "I'll behave myself around there; I have my peeves against the Rebellion too, you know. Unless of course you don't want me to behave."

"Whoa, careful there missy," Spider said, chuckling.

"I suppose so," X said, in a tone that clearly said that he wasn't affected by her attempted flirting. "But you will be held to very high standards."

"I'll treat you boys right," she said.

* * *

 

Mission Data

Reploid: Cinnamon

Builder: Professor Gaudile

Model type: Force Metal Generator

Equipment: FMG: Produces force metals from parts of other objects. Also, can be used to produce a mysterious healing energy that only affects machines, including reploids.

Metal Gloves: A pair of ordinary metal gloves used for dealing Combat damage.

A/N: When you get Cinnamon, she's not that great. Sure, she's a healer, but she has typical healer faults: low attack power, low defenses. But good speed, good WP recovery, and great FM resistance. Plus, there's only two in-battle options for healing: Cinnamon or the E-tanks. Then again, later on she gets access to a 5-hit weapon that is strong and deals status effects at random. And her Hyper form strengthens her defenses and power. At that point, she becomes a surprisingly effective fighter; hey, you can even replace Zero with her. No kidding. At least until you get the things that empower him…

Cinnamon has some character development, but I don't think the game showed it all that well. For my story, I opted not to give her Hyper form to her yet and she'll get her weapon shortly. Gaudile is trying so hard to be a true pacifist that it doesn't make sense for her to start out with those things.

 

Reploid: Marino

Builder: unknown

Model type: ninja

Equipment: lockpick, computer, blank key card, etc.: typical tools of a modern thief.

Beam Dagger: A small plasma blade which deals Combat damage. Easily concealed.

Hyper-Quicksilver: Increases speed of user immensely.

A/N: Marino is the fastest party character, doubly so when her Hyper is in use. She's fragile, her attack power is passable, and her resistance is on the lower end. However, she steals stuff with 100% accuracy and when she is in Hyper, she gets auto-max speed so it is rare to see any other character act. Many of her weapons are double-hitters too. So when you get Marino, most every boss strategy after will have you start with her in Hyper, steal stuff and do a bit of damage, then swap her out. There's even a (optional) boss or two in which constantly keeping Marino in Hyper mode is the best method of winning.

Marino has some character development, but you usually have to speak with her in downtimes to follow it. The game tells you nothing about her past.


	17. Thieves and Friends

When Gaudile came out of the repair wing, he met with Cinnamon, X, and Chief R. "I didn't want any of my work used for war," he said, looking down at the floor. "It doesn't agree with my philosophy."

"I'd rather not deal with war myself," X said. "But when these highly violent factions show up, you have to do something before the situation escalates beyond repair."

"I felt that even if you were just working alongside a warring faction, even with something like an army engineer working to restore damaged buildings, then you were just as bad as the ones actively vying for war. That's why I quit Lagrano's business."

"But Professor, I'd like to work with the Resistance," Cinnamon said, taking his actual hand. "I've been talking with a lot of the people here and most of them are good. A lot of them are just civilians who want to defend our city and take out the Rebellion for tarnishing the image of Giga City."

He looked to her. "Cinnamon…"

"The conflict will only drag itself out if all factions remain splintered," X added. "We need to unite to bring down the extremists."

"You do have a point, one I've been thinking of the past few hours." Then he turned to them and nodded. "All right. I'll work with the Resistance. But I don't want to be building any weapons or the like. I'll work with the healers, the rebuilders, and even update the armor modules everyone is using. But I don't want to work with weapons."

"We understand," R said, smiling. "And we're glad to have any help from you."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Updating armors would be great," X said. "I've looked at the standard module and it's decent, but nothing like the Rebellion has."

"Also, we have two large problems to deal with," R said. "One, the city-wide interference that is keeping us from making contact with the outer world. Two, figuring out which factory the Rebellion is using to mass produce its Preons."

"We're dealing with Preon invaders at least twice a day," X said. "It's not as bad as when the Rebellion was actively trying to take Central Tower. But it's still disruptive and continually keeps our repair wing busy. It's hard to plan anything when the majority of your fighters are in repair, recuperating, or in need of rest periods."

Gaudile nodded. "I see. Is Nana working with us?"

"Yes she is," R said.

"Good. In that case, it may take some time to pinpoint where the interference is coming from, but I can help you figure out where all the Preons are coming from. Basically, there are four districts in Giga City that could handle mass production of mechaniloids. Lagrano is out now, and my labs are still locked down for production. That leaves the Melda and Ulfat Districts. A few other areas could have small scale production, but if you're facing that kind of force with regularity, it has to be one of those two."

"All right, then we'll get you with Nana for that."

* * *

 

Marino considered her position. She had followed her boss's wishes to get the Force Metal Generator out of the Rebellion's hands, although she hadn't expected the Generator to be another reploid. And she had even gotten her and Gaudile into the Resistance. Well, she'd helped. To top it all off, Cinnamon had talked X out of arresting her.

The thief glanced over at where the Maverick Hunter was. He was **** good, she had to admit. Even though he appeared to be having a causal conversation with some of the Resistance members, the civilian volunteers, he was watching her in case of trouble. Those soldiers really admired X and looked up to him, with traces of awe remaining that a hero like him would be working with them. X was probably giving these volunteers a huge morale boost simply by being here.

And he didn't trust her. Not that it was surprising as she had stated that she was a thief. While the others might be taken in by the act, X wasn't fazed by any of her tricks. Sure, he was a really good actor at times, to the point where it took Marino close observation to realize that about him. But it seemed that he had a stoic and strong moral core underneath the friendly and open surface.

Others in the Resistance were not so strong. For ninety five percent of them, she was certain that she could flirt or chat with them while covertly making off with whatever goods they had around. The other five percent would take more persuading, but if she gave off enough of a playful attitude, they would get relaxed. She could just take some items and get away with a profit.

But, her mission was to bring the Force Metal Generator back to Palei. Professor Gaudile was still uncertain about Marino and might not agree to it. However, Cinnamon was convinced that Marino was her friend, who could be trusted fully even though she joked about being untrustworthy. The girl was sweet, overly trusting, and selfless. She was such a soft target for manipulation that Marino could easily talk her into sneaking out of Central District.

Then again, what if someone else took advantage of her? Marino normally wouldn't care, but she found that she had a soft spot for Cinnamon already. And it wasn't just her talking X out of the arrest. No, it was… it was her complete acceptance of Marino for who she said she was, as a friend. And her comment that she knew the thief had a good heart. It might have just been naïve, and a childish dream, ideal. Yet Marion found herself touched by this opinion. She wanted to protect Cinnamon from people who would really try to manipulate her.

Was she getting soft? Maybe. Marino didn't think she could let herself get so close to someone else so fast, from a thief after her target to an older female reploid looking out for her more girlish peer. But then, it seemed like it could be a good thing.

So, she would stay. She'd have to win X over one way or another. Probably not romantically; she didn't think he was her type anyhow. But maybe as a comrade-in-arms, or in being Cinnamon's guardian. Maybe that could prove her worth to the Maverick Hunter.

* * *

 

No matter where you went, it was always the same old thing. Bureaucracy, bureaucracy, bureaucracy. The upper levels kept the good information, missions, and money for themselves, the lower levels worked their butts off for a disproportionally low pay, and the middle levels never got any respect. Always the same.

Even here, in the Rebellion… their propaganda was all about equality, bringing out the best in everyone of the reploid race, and making the humans take responsibility for their actions for once. But in reality, it was almost worse than the Maverick Hunters. Sure, the Hunters were bad about fawning over the upper level members while considering almost everyone else with a touch of suspicion. But at least there, you could be sure that those leaders knew what they were about, what was going on around them, and that they could handle most any situation.

The Rebellion was turning out to have massive amounts of disconnect and hypocritical beliefs. Epsilon really was brilliant, but so many members were lying to him for their own ends that he had no idea what was fully going on. The lowest members, like mercenaries, civilians, and mechaniloids, were all put out in the field as cannon fodder to protect the upper members. And those in the middle were not respected, or heeded.

Mach Jentra did not like this. However, he also knew that some of the upper members (who were irritatingly younger and less experienced and less trained than him) could probably easily kick his rear if he tried to engage them in battle. So he kept quiet for most things.

This meeting's discussion, though, wasn't turning out well.

"I don't see how X could have survived that fall with the tower collapsing beside him," Scarface said. "And we had him injured before that."

"As long as the machinery that holds our core programming is not damaged, destroyed, or corrupted, most reploids can be revived from a great many unbelievable things," Epsilon said. "And he is in charge of the Resistance?"

"Not in charge," their informant Ochre said. "Chief R is still the leader, but X works closely with him and goes out on their most vital missions."

The large reploid nodded. Hisses of something came from underneath his black cloak; Jentra always wondered how that particular reploid worked. Supposedly, he had a rare highly concentrated force metal for his power source. Something known as supra-force metal. Although that material seemed to be vital to their overall plan, Jentra did not know much about it himself. He was just a mid-level, again.

"The Resistance is still mainly an inexperienced force with much of its members in training," Ochre added.

"And this conflict is too much for a single reploid to make all that much of a difference," Epsilon said. "We will simply have to put more pressure on them."

Argh. That was it. "Sir, if I may speak on this?" Jentra asked politely, far more than how he felt.

Some of the others look indifferent, even annoyed. But Epsilon nodded. "Go on."

"You're taking the news of X's survival rather lightly," he stated. "X is a leader, a politician. He knows how to push people without seeming to. He is exactly who we don't want in the Resistance: someone who can rally all the others into being stronger and more coherent. Plus, we know that Zero survived, and Axl somehow slipped through the nets. If those three get back together, then the Rebellion is in a lot of trouble."

"That would be true as well," Epsilon said. "A politician?"

Jentra nodded. "He handles a lot of the correspondence between the Maverick Hunters and the government. He has the knowledge and the means to ruin someone completely through perfectly legal processes. That is, if he were of mind to."

"Eh, we're in trouble as it is," Botos brushed off. "Now if we could hire him as a lawyer, that might help."

"It might," Epsilon said, apparently thinking of something. "As it is, we may want to lead X into a trap and finish him off using more severe methods. And I believe I know the place. Ochre, I would like you to return to Central District and help along those rumors about the supra-force metals."

"Sir?" Ferham asked, puzzled. "We've been trying to kill those rumors."

"Even when you try to control them, rumors have a way of growing to critical mass, where you cannot control them anymore. I believe news of the supra-force metals have gotten there, based on news I've received. But let them spike for now, with the focus being that we are storing them in Gimialla Mines."

Ochre bowed. "Gimialla Mines, okay. I'll do that."

"Incentas, Shadow, I want you two to station yourselves there. I'm giving you our best maps of that district, as well as a risky plan, so you must know your battlefield extremely well. So you should head out there once I inform you of what to do."

Jentra doubted it would work, even if he didn't know what the plan was. Just so long as they kept him out of it. He had his own plans which he had made once he realized that the Rebellion wasn't what it said it was. He was working to earn a particular supra-force metal fragment that he had been promised. And he would work quietly in order to get it. Once he had it, he would keep quiet while the Maverick Hunters tore through the Rebellion (he saw it as inevitable, what with the three legendary Hunters still alive and the disconnect on Epsilon's part). After that, he would claim to have been tricked and bullied into the work. He knew how to fake that, because he had seen dozens of records of actual happenings like that among Mavericks.

And then, he would be able to claim ownership of Ulfat Factory. No one else alive could do so and although a rival buy-out was a potential threat, he had some savings to cover himself. Maybe he would work to form an army of mechniloids to force change to happen.

Or maybe he would just become one of the upper crust himself, and not care about anyone else. That was tempting. If combined with the Melda district reploid factories, then Ulfat-Melda could become a robotics manufacturer to be reckoned with. And he would be the wealthy and powerful owner. With one other reploid, but that was fine. He could always kill off the other later on. But he needed him now.

And thinking on him… after the meeting was over, Jentra went over to Scarface. "Pardon me, but has there been any word from Sineswiper lately? I haven't heard from him in nearly a week."

"He was stationed at Melda's factory," the masked knight said. "I don't recall any reports from there lately, outside the shaft."

Sineswiper had been in his unit in the Maverick Hunters, and they had joined the Rebellion together. The plan had been to keep working together. Although the hummingbird could be irritatingly vain at times, Jentra was partly depending on his peer's actions. "I see. That is worrisome. I may stop by there myself to tell him about what this meeting discussed."

"Do that. And, I'd like to ask you about X."

"Hmm?" He shifted his wings. "I'm afraid that I didn't work closely with him, so I only know what was spoken of around the Hunters."

"That's more than I know," Scarface said. That was a good thing about him; he may have been a fighter and stubbornly loyal to Epsilon, but he thought other things through. "Does he have any weaknesses?"

Jentra snorted. "X? It's been said that he has a bad combo of being optimistically naïve and trusting. But that also gives him a strong sense of justice, as he believes in the best in others and wants to protect them. Other than that, he's never the strongest at anything. He holds no records and it's not a big deal among the Hunters if you're better at something than X is. However, there is no field in the training exercises where he is worse than average. He is always decent, if not good at it. Or if not excellent. The range of what he can do is far more impressive than the depth at which he can do those things."

"And that makes him dangerous?" Scarface asked.

"I don't know if it's that or something else," Jentra said. "As I said, I don't know him personally. The way I see it, he and Zero are old soldiers. And you do not get that way by accident." And that was why he wanted to stay out of the spotlight right now.

* * *

 

"I'm not very strong, but Marino is teaching me how to defend myself," Cinnamon said, all bright and cheery. She tapped the iron boxing gloves that she was using as a weapon for now. "I can't fight the stronger ones like the others, but X says my healing ability is unique and extremely helpful."

"That's good," Guadile said, although he was still nervous about letting Cinnamon go into battle. It wasn't just because her technology was important, no. It was good to know that was being used well. It was, she was his daughter and he didn't want to see her hurt.

"It does still scare me some, but X says that's normal," she said. "He says that he gets scared in battles sometimes, which is surprising. But when we all work together, we can make things right. I like that."

He smiled. "Yes, that is so. Sometimes I forget about that."

"It's gonna be okay, Professor," she said, kneeling down beside him. "I keep thinking, it may be tough now, but we'll drive the Rebellion off, and then we'll rebuild our home city to be better than before."

"Better than before, huh?" He considered it. If they could make their city something better, and more attuned to peace, then that might be worth it. To go against what Dr. Lagrano wanted.

"Mmhmm," she said, smiled.

* * *

 

Being that he had coworkers now, the Professor decided to discuss how things were going with them. Unofficially, the Rebellion engineers met on the equipment maintenance level, where they kept the gear they needed for repairs Nana sent them on. They were quite curious about him and his work, as when one of the younger engineers asked, "So she doesn't actually make new metals?"

"No, I haven't figured that out yet," Gaudile said. While it felt strange to be talking about the Generator project with others, peer review was something he had sorely lacked the past few years. "The generator system can take raw materials, weaker force metals, and special items to refine better metals than before. Still, knowing how to do that gives us better insight in how to manufacture artificial force metals, and find ways to make those and current ones safer."

"So why build it into a reploid?"

And having to explain things was showing him where he might need to go into detail in official papers. "It has to do with how force metals work with our programming. It doesn't work in the standard way that most programs to. It's something on a higher level."

"Higher level?"

"Isn't it because a force metal is a seven dimensional item?" X asked, speaking up from where he'd been checking on supplies himself.

Gaudile was pleasantly surprised. "Why yes, actually, that's what we're finding out now. I wasn't aware that you knew about seven dimensional items."

He shrugged. "I am one, in a way, and I've worked with such things before. I've kept up on that particular subject well in the past years. I've seen your papers on the seven dimensional properties of force metals. Have you made any luck in deciphering the origins of the extra dimensions in such materials?"

He shook his head. "No, I only have theories. But the force metals are definitely drawing on something through the hidden three dimensions. It seems to be a neutral force in nearly all cases. Although, if you're aware of the existence of seven dimensional items, I'm sure you know about the really dangerous ones."

"Of course," X said, his expression turning very serious. "I know a lot about those."

"What dangerous ones?" Cinnamon asked.

"It's not that important to this discussion," Gaudile said, looking to X.

"It might be, but then this discussion would have to be conducted as a classified one," he added.

* * *

 

Some searching of Melda's factory turned up equipment that Zero and Axl could use to perform an outside check on Zero's systems. But the results were inconclusive to the two of them. Axl didn't know enough about it and Zero didn't know of his condition in terms of data, numbers, and acceptable ranges. But he didn't report feeling the burning sensations or having misplaced thoughts, so they opted to head back to base.

Except that their stealth craft had been stolen.

"When the heck did that happen?" Zero asked, fuming. "There's been nobody on this hunk of frozen land but us the past few days."

"I dunno," Axl said, feeling shocked. "I mean, I was more concerned with making sure you weren't going off the deep end again. I didn't think about the craft… I do have some of our gear…"

"Well this bites." He sighed and thought over the area, just in case. "They might have something here we can borrow."

"I saw a communications and teleport device inside," Axl said. "Didn't look too deep into it at the time."

"I'm getting to hate this place," Zero muttered, then turned around to head into the factory. "Well let's go find it and see."

Just inside the main entrance door, there was a white pillar that was capped with a shallow dome at about chest level. The dome's lid shifted, revealing a mechanical eye behind a glass screen. "Identify cannot be confirmed," the pillar started. "Resources limited."

"Government override key use requested," Axl said, sending a particular signal.

"I'm not sure that will work here," Zero said.

The pillar hummed, as if this was a difficult issue. "Actions for key cannot be determined," it finally admitted. "Revert to factory settings?"

Axl glanced at Zero, who nodded. "Yes," the younger reploid said, since he had started talking to it.

The eye closed for a while, then popped back up. "Factory is inactive, limiting resources and activities. Factory overseer key required to unlock full functions. Only teleport location available in inactive mode is Shopping Center Teleport Station, Central Tower, Central District. Would you like to warp to that location?"

"It's better than nothing," Zero said. "Central isn't held by the Rebellion, or at least it wasn't. And a station like that should accept the government override key."

Axl nodded. "Yes, send us there."

"Local data transfer enabled…" it sent out two columns of white light around them. There was a moment of blankness in the transferal, but then everything was reset. Axl and Zero reappeared in a standard capsule model teleport pad.

A white haired female reploid in a black uniform looked over to them in surprise, but concern. "Are you with the Rebellion?" she asked, worriedly. Her hand was near a security alarm.

"No," Zero said gruffly.

"Could we operate the pad for a short while?" Axl asked. "I'll talk to your computer…" he sent the government override key to it with a limited close range transmission. He had to do it since they didn't want Zero transmitting anything in this state of uncertainty.

"Well I," she paused when she saw the window that came up on the operator's screens. "Oh, that's different. Okay, go ahead, but we're doing some transferals for the Resistance too. Please don't take long."

"We hope we won't," Zero said.

The operator left the station for a while, so Axl sat in her chair. "Whoa, this is set up different."

"It should still work the same," he said, coming closer to watch.

First, Axl tried to request a teleport to a station that was near the Tokyo headquarters, but not in it. If there was no message of request sent and approved, all Maverick Hunter bases would refuse unauthorized incoming teleports. But it turned out that the interference was too bad. They couldn't get a hold of the satellite to act as a link.

"I don't think we're getting out this way," he said quietly.

Zero cursed under his breath, then put his hand on Axl's shoulder. "Then ask it to send us to the Ulfat District," he responded in the same. "It's another manufacturing plant where one of our missing persons is based."

"All right. Would it make vehicles?"

"We'll just have to go there and see."

"How nice," Axl said sarcastically. He set the override key to log out after the teleport was complete, and to delete records of this transfer. It was one of the few ways that teleport logs could be deleted so soon after use. Once it was set up, he got out the chair, peeked around the corner, and waved to the operator. Then he joined Zero on the pad as they teleported to yet another district.

Where Melda was freezing cold, Ulfat was blistering hot. Even outside, the heat of the machinery made the air ripple. And not too far from their arrival point, there were a pair of the fire bats, which squealed upon noticing them.

"I'm really starting to hate this place," Zero grumbled.


	18. Maverick Hunters Join Forces

X came in earlier than the rest; he was snacking on an apple as he came into the command center. "Good morning, R, Nana, Gaudile," he said.

"Morning," the platypus said. He seemed nervous.

"Good morning," R replied, followed by a whistle from Mikey the parrot. "Where'd you get the apple?"

He shrugged. "Someone left it for me without saying who they were. But it's a nice gift."

"Oh, X, I wanted to ask you about something," Nana said. "Earlier this morning, someone used a government override key on the public teleport station in the shopping center. I can't tell what they did, but there is the line that says it was used."

"Did they? Let me see the line." He came over and looked at the screen.

"I know local government codes, but this is global."

He traced his hands over the numbers. "It's a Maverick Hunter key. It's…" he paused, then smiled. "That particular key belongs to Axl." He looked at the lines ahead of it. "Looks like he came in with someone else, from Melda district. They then used the key immediately. Probably headed somewhere else. Can you search the network for his ID number? It's MH-AL-44782."

"I'll look," she said, then her eyes unfocused from the room. "I can't search Melda's records… no, wait, a console in the factory was recently reset. It records transporting a reploid of that ID number here, as well as a second... WSN-000-07."

"That's an odd ID," R said.

X chuckled. "That would be Zero with him. Huh, so they are in Giga City. They must be looking for me. But, we're heading out soon and we won't be able to figure out where they went. Could you keep a watch out for those two numbers, in case they return?"

Nana smiled a little. "All right… I'll tell the security lines to send me an alert if either reploid ID number appears again. I could send one of my mechaniloid messengers out to tell them that you're here."

"Yes, thank you. I will warn you, though, they may be a little suspicious at first. Don't let it bother you too much. We get used to being cautious on our job and we've been the target of many attempted traps."

She nodded. "Okay. I'll try not to look too suspicious."

At that point, other members of the squad started coming in. Massimo came in first, setting himself to the side so that he wasn't in the way. Marino and Cinnamon came in together, talking. After watching them a few days, X had decided to bring them along on this mission. They could be useful. Cinnamon had been through some training in battle at this point, but hopefully the experience of the other members would make up for having such a novice. Lastly, Spider came in. X still wasn't certain of him, but he was a good fighter and now that they had a payment deal set up with him, his loyalty was somewhat more certain.

"Well we're here," Marino said. "What'd you call us up for?"

"It's about the Preons," Chief R said. "We've located where they're being manufactured."

Gaudile came forward, to stand with the others. "I thought it might be Melda, but that district is very quiet now. No, the data indicates that they're being made at Ulfat Factory. We had a few scouts go check the area out, but the place has a great many Preons there just to guard it."

"They did find out that the factory is being run currently by a former Maverick Hunter," R said. "They didn't get a clear name. Gentry?"

"It's probably Mach Jentra," X said. "He was one of the original team that defected to the Rebellion. He's a mock jet fighter with fire wielding capabilities."

"A mock jet fighter?" Cinnamon asked, puzzled.

X nodded. "He doesn't quite qualify as a true reploid flier. At any rate, we decided to use this squad to perform the initial infiltration. We're looking to gain control of the factory or halt its production for a time if we need a larger force later on. Their current strategy relies on a grindstone of continually sending in the unfeeling Preons to wear us reploids down in resources and spirits."

"Stopping this production factory will give us a much needed reprieve from these daily invasion waves," R concluded. "Do any of you have any knowledge of the Ulfat district, or how things are there?"

"Only what's in the public records," Cinnamon said. Massimo agreed to that.

Marino glanced at X. "What are you giving me that look for?"

He smiled slightly. "Well you are the technology thief."

Smirking, she waved her hand. "Of course, of course. Yeah, I've been in Ulfat before. It used to have a spot movement detection system as its main defense system for the receiving area."

"So a randomized check for any movement?" X asked. "Those will check for authorized IDs if they do pick up movement."

"They're a pain in the neck to deal with," Marino added. "But Ulfat's system isn't in place all that well. The motion detection bots are only in the receiving area. Once you get past them, your main obstacles are the heat, the machinery, and a few conveyor mazes. And, the bots aren't as randomized as they're advertised. I can calculate what system they're using. In that case, you just have to stand still for the few seconds they're scanning and you fool them almost completely."

"Almost?" Spider asked.

"If you stop in the spot they decided to land in, that won't fool them," she explained.

"Well it's a time of war, so we're glad to have that assistance, Marino," X said.

* * *

 

The five of them stayed in the entrance hall the teleport pillar had been located in. Once X and Marino determined that the security was not in place here (for some dumb reason, as Spider muttered), the thief opened a door to a watched room and observed the spot detectors for a while. Being that this was a factory, the rooms were pure function with no attempt to make things aesthetically pleasing. The next room seemed to have many crates stacked in piles.

Cinnamon looked around, nervous but staying near Massimo for support. She and Marino had keys to X's encrypted communications line now, so she transmitted to them, " _It's really noisy and hot in here_."

X replied with, " _That's to be expected_."

Following up right behind that message was something of a chaotic mess. Another user of the line popped up unannounced. " _Who's using this line?_ "

Cinnamon stiffened. " _Who's there?"_

Then the unknown again, " _OMG, X!"_

X put his hand to his mouth and seemed to be holding in quite a bit of laughter at that.

" _Isn't text speak unprofessional?"_ Massimo asked.

" _Oh geez,"_ Spider added.

" _Can you guys can it?"_ Marino asked.

" _When did this turn into a party line?"_ the stranger asked, with a joking mark.

" _Hey, chill out everyone,"_ X finally transmitted. " _Axl, it's good to hear from you again."_

" _You too,"_ he replied. " _Zero's with me, but he's in silent one mode right now. I just told him."_

That worried X briefly; that would mean that Zero was having trouble with the virus. But he didn't let that show. _"I see. Well I'm working with the Resistance group in Central District now, after they helped me. The others on the line, Massimo, Cinnamon, Marino, and Spider, they're helping me on this mission."_

" _Okay,"_ Axl said. _"I was weirded out not just to hear that line again, but others too. Hi guys!"_

" _Hi Axl!"_ Cinnamon transmitted.

" _We're here to shut this factory down,"_ X said. _"What about you two?"_

" _We were looking for your dead body, but apparently that's not needed anymore."_ This caused some snickers among X's group. _"Now we're looking into some traitors, the ones who were in the first infiltration group that jumped ship to the Rebellion's side. Mach Jentra is here, of the 121st Unit."_

" _Ah, so we were right."_ He checked where the signal from Axl was coming from against the map he had of the factory. _"You seem to be deeper in than we are. We were just studying the spot motion detectors."_

" _Oh gosh, those things? You'll only have to worry about the first room. Zero got ticked off at them wailing and calling in Preons, you see."_

" _Well that's good news,"_ Marino said. _"I've got their pattern down, so whenever we're ready to go."_

" _There should be a storage warehouse ahead of you, Axl,"_ X stated. _"Go check it out and we'll see about meeting up with you two in that area."_

" _Gotcha."_

When Marino gave them the signal, they hurried through the first room before the spot detectors went off. In the next room, several smashed detector bots and Preons were scattered about. They hadn't yet been replaced or removed, so X led his group through by following his downloaded map.

At the end of the group of warehouses, they encountered Axl and Zero discussing a locked door. "Do you have a map of this place?" Zero asked before anyone else could speak up.

"I do," X said. "And we need to get through this door."

"Tough luck, then," Axl said. "The Rebellion reset the lock on the door and the one code that I know of won't open it. We have a bomb if nothing else."

"I thought that might happen," X said, then pulled a data drive out of a slot in his helmet. "Here, take this data; it's from the three members I've fought."

Axl brightened. "Really? Great, give me a sec." He hooked the data drive up to his own systems. "I'll get you that one guy we fought too."

X introduced everyone properly then, keeping it short since they were in enemy territory. Then Axl handed back the drive, closing his eyes. "I'd use Psyche one," X advised.

He nodded, then his body was absorbed in white light. After a second, Dr. Psyche's humanoid form was standing there. Marino tensed and Cinnamon squeaked, putting her hands to her mouth. "What?" he asked.

"It's still Axl," X said, reassuring the two girls. "He's a shapeshifter."

"Yup," Axl as Psyche said, using Psyche's voice. Then he brought his hand up to his head. "Okay, I want to know who programmed this reploid's movements so I can throttle them. Pardon me for looking like an idiot." He turned around and placed his hand on the lock panel. The security lock checked him over, was fooled, and beeped as the door slid open.

"If you think that looks stupid, you should have seen his other form," Spider commented.

Axl shifted back as they walked through the door. "Is that the Psyche two?"

"Probably," X said.

"Rats."

"How do you do that?" Cinnamon asked.

Axl shrugged. "I dunno exactly; I'm not a scientist. But I have this Copy Chip that lets me copy others that I have DNA recorded from."

"Our powers work in similar fashions," X said, "so we can swap data as needed."

* * *

 

Mach Jentra watched the group making their way through the factory, towards the conveyor belt mazes. "Now what?" Spider asked, barely audible over the noise of the conveyors and molten material and ovens. "It takes forever to get through annoyances like this if you don't know the proper order."

Without orders, the conveyor belts stopped. "It doesn't take too long when you cut the power," Marino countered, twirling a plasma knife in her hand before slotting it into a case in her ponytail holder.

Jentra twitched. It wasn't just the three top Hunters; it was them and four of their friends coming. And they were shutting down his factory as they went, stalling him, but to the point that they could take over the facility themselves. Once they got rid of him, that was. And from a moment when the shapeshifter transformed into a windy hummingbird, he knew exactly what had happened to Sineswiper.

What chance did he have? He was always in the mid-level, never respected… but not standing a chance against the might of the high-level Hunters. And no matter what others thought, he doubted even the strongest force metals could save him now. Sineswiper had acquired a combo of metals that effectively made him near impossible to hit and of a high speed. Yet, he must have fallen to just two of this group of seven.

He considered running away and hiding out. He didn't agree philosophically with the Rebellion anyhow. At least, how they acted rather than how they spoke. He could hide out, changing his identity or seeking some exchange of safety for information.

But that was the coward's way and Jentra didn't want to be a coward.

He trembled, but then started laughing. "So my doom comes," he said bitterly, smiling. "That's how it always is, isn't it? We try to be something and end up being just another Maverick to defeat. You try to move out of your pigeon hole and you get strangled. Well fine!" He gave a loud laugh. "Fine! Come and get me! But Duboar, I promise, we will make sure to give them a fight that they will not forget. If I don't stand a chance of survival, then it doesn't matter. I will do what it takes to make sure that I am memorable."

* * *

 

The caution Zero had to take when the virus was acting up meant that he wasn't going to send or receive com transmissions. About all he accepted was locating queries, as those would allow operators in the Maverick Hunters to keep track of him. It was a harsh restriction. Even if he didn't need it, having an operator's eye over the mission was an immense help, as any changes to the situation beyond what his senses could register would be noted and passed on by the operator. And in situations like this where there could be no mission operator, being able to communicate with teammates without having the enemy overhear them was an invaluable aid to strategy. He and Axl only spoke as needed, and in areas that would be difficult to overhear in.

When Axl froze to no apparent reason, then grinned, Zero had no idea why. He glanced around, but saw nothing that could warrant that reaction. And then the younger Hunter leaned in and tugged his arm. "X is alive!" he whispered. "I've got him on his encoded line."

That was a massive relief. Zero smiled some. "Great. What's he up to?"

"Hang on…" he focused on the com line.

So he was alive after all. That battle at Lagrano Tower was still a sore memory for him. Over many years, he had done a lot to ensure that X, the true hero of the Maverick Hunters, would survive. Zero fought to make up for his past, to rebel against his mad creator, to work against times like this when he could become a greater threat than any of the Rebellion… to protect those more deserving. X fought simply because it was the right thing to do, even if it went against his personal beliefs and wishes. And that made him far more of a hero than Zero could ever hope to be. So to think that he had survived a situation that had killed X, Zero just did not want to believe that it could happen. Knowing that he had survived too was a proof that there was good in the world and it could overcome all odds.

But who else was on that line, if Axl had picked up on them talking? Zero waited patiently, using his Z-Buster to obliterate a pair of those hated fire bats. It felt good not to worry so much about total stealth anymore.

Then Axl shot out a third. "X has teamed up with the Resistance, which is that group in Central District that is fighting the Rebellion. He's brought in a squad of four others under him to take control of this factory. Apparently the Rebellion is sending masses of Preons to hassle them. And he's given me the location of a warehouse ahead where we can meet up with them."

"Let's go then."

It took some waiting, during which Axl and Zero cleared out the warehouse of threats. And then X came in with his group. It was a mixed crew, which was good. There was Massimo, a definite brick type who got a respectable amount of power from his armored suit. There was Marino, something of a ninja that should fail due to her light red armor and unique appearance, but was so agile and fast that it made up for a lack of power and actual stealth (although she might be sneaky; X had given them a hand gesture that warned them to watch their gear around that girl). And there was Spider, who was fighting solely as a long distance fighter; he wasn't quite as accurate as Axl, but he was definitely a strong and experienced fighter.

Lastly, there was Cinnamon, who caused Zero to wonder if X's judgment had been affected by the fall off Lagrano Tower. She was a novice, no doubt about that, who was still uncertain in her fighting style. She seemed to stick with using items, fist fighting if pressed (although she was awful small for a boxer), and using some kind of homing energy attack sparingly. At least X kept her out of the way in most fights. And then Marino had gotten herself badly burned when fighting a Fire Goo monster. After that skirmish, Cinnamon had gone over and healed her. Without the use of an E-tank, or even nanites (seemingly). There had been no sign of the burn on her afterwards, and Cinnamon was still perky.

That was why he had brought her along, Zero realized. That was enough to amaze even him, although he didn't let that show. He thought briefly of telling X that privately. But no; he caught himself in time. Even if X was resistant to the virus, Zero knew that the strain he had was more adaptable and manipulative than others. So he wasn't going to let it have any chance of transmitting itself or copies to others, even if it left him effectively deaf to the plans of the rest of the squad.

Maybe the others realized that. Cinnamon asked, "X, didn't the Professor say that the scouts had run into numerous Preons? We've hardly run into any."

"I've noticed that," X replied.

"Aren't we lucky, then?" Spider joked.

"No, we might be unlucky in that," X said, looking concerned. "Either the Preons got sent out to attack Central Tower, or they're waiting in ambush further in. Whatever way it is, I'm not liking this scenario. But let's press on; we're almost to the control room as it is."

Later on, there came a point where there were several pathways to search. X had the group split up to investigate, although Zero soon realized it was more to talk to him alone. "Is this about my com silence?" he asked.

"Yes," X said, turning to him. "How is the virus?"

"Passive for now, only at tempting me to transmit with somebody. The force metals seemed to be empowering it, and it got set off when one exploded when overheated."

He nodded. "Ah, that makes sense."

Zero frowned. "Does it?"

"I'll explain later. We need to check things out."

But it seemed to be offices, with all the computers set up with the Rebellion's firewall. "What's with your group?" Zero asked. "You could have made it through here alone, much faster too."

"I could have, but I'm trying to just assist the Resistance for now. It is their home city they're fighting for, so I want to have the locals involved in the major events. Besides, it's good to encourage new heroes to rise up and take up the fight. That way, people don't always come to us when things turn rotten."

"That's a good point."

A few minutes later, the group met back up on discovering that Massimo, Axl, and Spider had found an elevator which led to the control room. They passed through a bright disinfecting hall, which was to assure that no dirt, dust, or grime could get into the new machines' bodies. Once through that, they found themselves in the heart of the factory.

It was a cavernous room with a reddish-orange haze permeating it. There was a compact assembly line, made up of welding robots, conveyor belts, closed off passages for installing delicate electronics, and even a metal press far in back. But right on the side closest to them, there was a factory managing computer, formed like a giant slab of metal with strange glass orbs on it.

And here were the masses of Preons the Resistance had expected, some on the open grounds near them, others waiting behind conveyor belts and machinery. There were the simplest ones that Zero had encountered in Lagrano Tower, and then there were models with electric prongs, models bearing E-tanks for their fellow fighters, models with machine guns, and even a few that seemed to be equipped with plasma blades. Above them all, hovering close to the management computer, there was the traitor. Mach Jentra reminded Zero of a Maverick from the past, Jet Stingray, although Jentra seemed more sophisticated, not the rough racer that Stingray was.

"Oh, here you are at last," Jentra said, bringing his red staff in front of him. "I've been expecting you."

"Did you set us up, traitor?" Axl asked. He was angered, although not yet losing his temper. He was improving.

"Well you didn't exactly make a subtle entrance to my domain," Jentra countered. "And you've been ruining my dear factory along the way. Do you know how much money it takes to get a place like this established, or to keep it running? Every production minute lost is money lost. I suppose I'll have to ask Epsilon for compensation after I get rid of you."

The others look to their leader, but X held them off for a bit. Sometimes he could make things happen just by talking. Of course, Zero thought, it depended on how sane the opponent was. X asked, "Why did you join the Rebellion, Jentra? They're the ones you were supposed to be fighting against."

"Why?" He shrugged, looking kind of bored. "I'm not certain anymore. Maybe it was their bright shiny ideals, the hopeful image they projected, or maybe it was the promise of new powers and the freedom to develop into who you wanted to be." Then he snorted, dismissing them by flinging his arm back. "But they're just as rotten as anyone else, even the Maverick Hunters. No one ever follows their ideals anymore, not even you, supposed pacifist X. I don't care for such things anymore. But I do care about money and you are impeding the efforts of my current employer. That, and I hate trespassers. Duboar, Preons, attack them!" He sent a shower of fireballs their way to emphasize his point.

Zero brought out his saber and deflected a fireball into a nearby Preon. X sidestepped and paused, presumably giving out orders to the others. Since he couldn't hear those, Zero quickly dashed to the side, redirecting a fireball that was headed for Cinnamon. She was currently close to X, so Zero put himself in a position where he could defend those two until he had further orders.

Before long, Massimo had moved up to the front of the group, using his lance to impale and destroy Preons in one shot. When one got stuck he merely launched it from his weapon into others, causing damage to them as well. Spider and Cinnamon stepped back, the former to launch explosive cards at Jentra, the latter to catch any Preons that made it back there. Marino moved close to them, attacking gun armed Preons that attempted to aim for that back row. And Axl dashed to the side, and then transformed into a giant rotund walrus like reploid.

X stepped forward, shot at Jentra, then put his hand on Zero's shoulder, "Brace yourself against Axl's attack, then head out there and pick off the nurse Preons."

Zero barely got time to nod before Axl stomped one of his new massive feet down and managed to launch a massive wave of salt water from somewhere to wash over the entire factory floor. Although difficult to explain, the force of the water was strong, not to mention the chill that invaded deep into Zero's body. The others had prepared for that attack, but still seemed thrown off for a second by the scale of it.

But that was better than the Preons fared. The weakest ones shorted out immediately, while others collided into each other or the factory machinery. All the ones that had been charging or preparing attacks lost focus and had to start over again. Unfortunately, Mach Jentra had been hovering too high over the floor to be affected by the wave attack. He harrumped and launched another volley of fireballs before diving down to attack X.

But X could handle himself. Zero dashed away, slicing through the nearest Preon Nurse. It was easy to identify those, as they all had a white and green pattern that none of the others shared. In a flash, he saw that X had blasted Jentra in the face in retaliation for the diving attack.

Then he saw one of the Nurses send out energy to heal Jentra. Zero dashed over to eliminate that one, although the reverse damage was already done.

* * *

 

Cinnamon's power was pulsing strong; she found it hard to relax like Spider near her seemed to be. If anything, the purple haired gambler seemed to be having fun. She could not see how this was fun. The small battles so far hadn't been too scary, nothing like the battle against Psyche where she found herself unable to do anything. She was making herself keep alert in this battle, but the number of Preons was astonishing. Plus, there was that threat above in the former Maverick Hunter.

But, X had things under control. She could trust him. He had ordered her to stay back here in case she needed to heal anyone, and to fight any Preons that got past the others near her and Spider. It shouldn't have been bad, as she was in a less dangerous position than the others (especially Massimo and Zero). Still, she worried.

Then one of the plasma blade Preons darted past Marino, headed for the two of them. Cinnamon reminded herself of her duty, then ran to between it and Spider to punch it with the metal glove weapon the Professor had made for her. That stunned it briefly, but then it then started to sweep its blade at her. Getting out of the way, she tried punching it on a spot that Marino had hit previously. That crushed some of its internal chips, but not enough to defeat it. So she grabbed its blade arm and forced it to impale itself with its own weapon. That stopped it.

"Atta girl," Marino said with a grin, then picked up the body and threw it at some others, mostly to get it out of the way. "You're getting it."

Cinnamon smiled nervously. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be good at this. But when it was needed… "Th-thanks," she replied.

* * *

 

Massimo had two sets of orders. One, clear the area of Preons for those who could hit Jentra while he was in the air. Two, if Jentra hit the ground, he was to attack the former Maverick Hunter himself. Which worried him. How was he supposed to fight against a former Maverick Hunter? Surely, they had far more training than he had. He was certain that it took months to get in as one.

But Zero had been given different orders, one that Massimo wasn't sure about. The blond haired Hunter was zipping all over the battlefield, even into the machinery and conveyor belt area, picking off certain Preons as more dangerous than the rest. Maybe he would come in as back-up when Massimo had to attack the leader.

After the wave attack had proven to affect everyone on the floor, but not Jentra in the air, Axl started using Silver Horn's blast cannon to shoot high powered water bullets at Jentra. The aerial reploid was dodging unbelievably well, even though he was taking fire from Axl as Silver Horn, X with his buster gun, and Spider with his cards. But he wasn't down yet, so Massimo concentrated on clearing the field of Preons. But every time he defeated a group, more would come out of hiding, or even teleport in. How many Preons were there in this facility?

Near him, X changed his colors again, this time to a weird white, silver, and blue mix that reminded Massimo of Psyche's image on Professor Gaudile's monitors. While Jentra dodged a blast from Spider, X fired a flickering burst of energy that struck Jentra, but didn't seem to actually hurt him. But he got disoriented, stopping his movements and shaking. That was a sign of one of those primitive poisonous viruses, right? Massimo saw X wince at the results of his attack, but then he had to focus on dispatching a saber Preon that was trying to strike X.

There was a blast from Axl's water attack, which caused Jentra to yelp and fall out of the air, crashing to the floor. That was his signal. Massimo used his jet skates to get over there and shifted over to the suit's golden hyper form. Using that extra energy and momentum, he stabbed his lance downward through Jentra's shoulders. And that was enough to put his lance all the way through his body and down into the floor. There were bursts of oil from the wounds, and snaps from cut power lines, culminating in a flare inside the reploid's body and the smell of oil burning. Even if he was a fire controller, he would have systems that could not handle such internal fires.

Jentra gasped in pain, the look in his eyes incredulous that the killing blow had been struck by some nobody from outside the Maverick Hunters. But he managed to call out, "Duboar, maximum output…" before shaking violently and shutting down.

Massimo trembled himself, almost not believing that he had done that. He pulled his lance out of the body and let it collapse on the ground. How could he kill another reploid like that, even with the armor suit at maximum power output? That was what he was supposed to be doing, but he didn't think he'd actually be able to kill.

At Jentra's death, the factory management computer hissed like it could hate them. The Preons then went berserk, with even more teleporting in all at once. The management machine was going to eliminate them, one way or another. In seconds, Massimo had to attack five Preons that were maniacally launching themselves at him in wild attacks. The mechaniloids started targeting anything that moved on the floor, even each other.

Zero soon rejoined the group. Cinnamon and Spider had moved in closer to them as Preons started to pour in through the entrance doors as well. "What now?" the red Hunter asked.

X shifted back to his normal coloration, then tried firing his multi-target charge attack. "Axl, see if you can trick that Duboar computer!"

"Right," the youngest Hunter said, starting to glow white.

"I can draw some of their fire briefly," Spider said, activating his Hyper form. Only, he seemed to vanish into thin air. A short time later, his voice called out, from a little bit away from the group, "Come and get me, scraps!" A large percentage of the Preons suddenly fixated their maddened rage at Spider. But since he was now invisible, they could only aim at the spots where he was taunting them from, causing them to shoot into thin air.

And then Mach Jentra was flying above the group again. Only, it was Axl, having changed form again. "Duboar, cease production!" he ordered firmly. "Stop the attack."

Massimo backed up to help cover his less defensive peers. While the armor suit was registering high damage levels, he still had to protect them. He struck at a saber Preon that tried to dash past towards X. But an image of the impaled Jentra flashed through his mind's eye at that.

The computer Duboar hissed, even whined. Axl grunted, as if what he was doing was taking a great effort. Then, as Duboar increased in volume of noise, Axl called out, "It's intelligent enough to realize that something's wrong and I don't have an authority code to control the Preons. I'm… just holding it back…"

"Hang on then," X replied, looking over the computer. "Zero, go take off that steel shield for me!"

"Right," he said, then jumped on top of a Nurse Preon and dashed from there to reach Duboar. He slashed at the steel half dome that sat in the middle of computer's face, which knocked it right off. As X charged up his buster, Marino slipped in low in front of him to stop a Preon from disrupting him. X fired a single shot burst of brilliant white energy into the exposed workings of Duboar.

There were several loud cracks and crashes as its internal structure came apart. Steam released from the exposed hole as coolant liquid tubes were ruptured and came in contact with the overheated components. As the factory machinery came to a halt and the Preons stopped in confusion, things started to get silent.

"No more should come in, so let's get rid of these Preons before they snap out of it," X ordered, changing to a pink colored scheme and firing paralysis nanites into the crowd of Preons.

It took several minutes to do so, as there was still a lot of Preons in the room. But they could spread out now. Cinnamon came over to Massimo and started healing up his armor. To keep her protected, he put one arm around her and fought the Preons off with the other.

And then the fight was finally over. The group gathered back together, all looking exhausted and battered. Axl was the worst, though. Back in his normal form, he was crouched down with his hands over his head. X helped him up. "You take serious internal damage?' he asked, looking over his peer carefully.

"I'm not sure," Axl replied in a shaky voice. "I didn't get my self disconnected from Duboar before you attacked it and the backlash was nasty." He rubbed his forehead.

"Sorry, but thanks for your efforts against it." He looked around the others. "Cinnamon, if you could get Marino first, then get Axl a bit; he's going to need some downtime anyhow. Don't mind Zero or me. You okay, Spider?"

"It's nothing I can't handle myself," he replied, already having a cure kit out for himself.

Massimo was puzzled at that. X didn't look to be in that bad of shape, but Zero was sporting a number of injuries, including a nasty looking burn across his cheek that had some oil stains around it. Then again, something was weird about Zero on this mission, as he wasn't transmitting with anyone. Why? He certainly didn't know Zero well enough to know what was going on. It was amazing enough that he, a former butler, had just been through a difficult battle with the three top Maverick Hunters.

But then, recalling how Jentra had died… that was just awful.

X spoke up, breaking him out of his thoughts. "All right then, good work, everyone. I had hoped we could leave one or two behind to keep hold of Ulfat district, but when we get back to the network console, we'll just have to ask for R to send in a strong clean up squad to secure things."

* * *

 

Mission Data

Reploid: Axl

Builder: unknown

Model type: Next-Gen Prototype

Equipment: Axl Pistols: Two small handheld guns that do more damage than you would think.

A-Trans Copy Chip: Created to mimic X's VWS, the Copy Chip allows user to fully mimic most mechaniloids or reploids, down to their weapons, skills, and voice. Has been modified some from original format.

Hyper-Stealth Mode: User becomes invisible, unable to be hit.

A/N: In this game, Axl was made to be like a mage in a setting that cannot have a mage (which I find pretty nifty). But he's better than your typical mage. He can use powers of the bosses you have defeated (even two optionals), has a good resistance, and has good stats. And he can function as a tank by using his Hyper plus a special sub-weapon, which is basically what Spider did during the Jentra fight. Drawbacks… uh, he has no personal force metal, and there's many Shot-resistant enemies. And after a while, his voice can be a little irritating, but not by much.

I changed what Axl was doing before he joined the Resistance group for this story, as well as modified his copying ability… well, resetting it to the regular series standard like I did with X.


	19. A Virus, a Scientist, and a Secret, part 1

Most everyone could understand how battles could be hectic, especially with the numbers they had recently faced. X often found that dealing with the aftermath of such a battle could be just as crazy as the battle itself. He had pretty much supported Axl from the control room back to the last console pillar, then from the teleport bay in the repair wing to where he could be looked after. "He's got a headache from having an empathic connection with a strong computer unit when it was forcibly shut down," he told the repair engineer who had joined in.

The doctor nodded as they worked on securing Axl into the deep repair pod. The younger reploid was almost asleep already in trying to cope with the headache. "All right, that shouldn't be too bad. I'll check him over once the pod is secure and give you a downtime estimate."

"All right. If you'll excuse me, I've got others to handle." He left the room and went to the lobby.

Marino and Cinnamon were both being seen by nurses, as with the latter's repairs, they would be okay with normal bed rest. X was that way too, as his self-repair systems were already at work on his worst injuries. In one corner, he saw that Butler had shut down the Massimo armor and was going to give it over to someone to repair; he seemed shaken still.

Zero was sitting in a plastic chair, stoically ignoring what injuries he had. He brushed off an engineer that tried to help him up. "You're not qualified to work on me," he started firmly.

"He's right about that," X said. "I'll handle him. Take this and start working on things." After passing over a self-repair booster pack (which he knew wouldn't cause any adverse interactions with Zero's unique systems), he then tapped his wrist and pointed over to Butler, asking for a moment to speak to him.

Biting his lip, Zero nodded and started working on the burn on his face. Even though he had to be in a great deal of pain, he knew what was up with Butler. They had seen this kind of thing in many young Hunters over the years.

X glanced around first though. "Where's Spider? Is he still fussing about not trusting the engineers?"

"Yes, that's precisely why he left for his apartment already," the engineer said. "You two sure you'll be all right?"

"I'll be fine, and I've got him covered," X reassured him. "You can help get Massimo's armor into the appropriate repair room."

"Right." The engineer went over and took control of the carrier bot that now had the armor secured. "You know, I hadn't imagined you'd look like that outside of your armor, Massimo."

Butler, dressed in his civilian black armor suit, blushed at this. "Yeah, I'd rather be low key outside battle."

Once the engineer was gone with the armor, X went over to Butler, who still looked dazed. "Hey," he said quietly, staying close to him. "Dealing with Jentra got you disturbed, right?"

His eyes widened, then he brushed his hair out of his face. "Uh, yeah. I didn't expect to take someone down like that… how did you know?"

"I've had lots of things happen like that. I know it's rough, but you need to rest too. Here." He passed a container to Massimo, one he had picked up while waiting to get Axl taken care of. "This stuff is restricted use, but you really only need this one dose. It'll slow your systems some, allowing you to rest at your place without being bothered with what's going on in your mind. We should talk on this when you wake up; I know there's a few psychologists around and we could get in with one to help."

"Right, thanks." He looked down, still nervous. "Was that necessary, what we did?"

"It's hard to tell sometimes in the midst of things," X admitted. "But by his own words, he didn't care anymore. He was looking to be at an advantage for himself, not caring what happened to anyone else. And he even dismissed the group he had abandoned the Hunters for. So he would have caused more damage everywhere if we hadn't of stopped him."

"That would be. I'll go back now."

"Set your alarm clock for at least six hours of rest," X recommended. Once he was gone, he went over to sit by Zero. "You ready?"

"Yeah," he said, his voice blank of emotion. "But do they have the right equipment?"

"Yes, but I'm going to need some help. There is someone here who is cleared to work on you, even like this." He opened his com line and sent out a message. _"Professor Gaudile, are you available?"_

" _In a moment,"_ he replied. _"Is something up with Cinnamon?"_

" _No, she's fine and will probably get told to sleep for several hours. I noticed that you had all your clearance papers registered if you were called up to work for the Maverick Hunters in an emergency."_

" _Yes, so I could get clearance for some other jobs. What is it?"_

" _I'm calling you in under code RZ-272, and we need access to Black level containment rooms with sterile-clean work equipment and a repair pod."_

" _But that's… you came back in with Zero, as I heard?"_

" _Yes."_

" _I see. I'll be down there in a few minutes. Call up Nana and have her reserve… Lab 853-270, and tell you how to get there. She'll need to activate the highest level of firewall we have in that room too."_

" _Sure. Thank you."_ He cut off that and spoke with Nana, then patted Zero's arm. "All right, I've got the place. Let's go."

They left the repair area and went down some halls towards a research area that was better suited to handle the problem. They got some looks of wonder and whispers from those around them, something both of them had learned to ignore (although it made Zero uncomfortable to be seen in a battered state publicly like this). Once in the lab area, there were fewer reploids around.

The room itself stood out now, thanks to the humming of its increased security protocols. X had to place his hand against the lock, then wait on Nana's approval before entering. It led into a small square hallway that led to a decontamination tunnel and a side room for an observer. As the door closed, X stepped into the observer room to make sure it was all the proper equipment and set up. The anti-viral energy firewall enveloped this room, and the lab past it. Good. It all looked workable, so X spent a moment downloading a list of medical nanites and solutions which would work on Zero, just in case Gaudile needed a reference. Then he followed Zero into the decontamination tunnel.

"I was doing pretty good there about not ending up in a place like this," Zero commented.

"I know," X said, closing off the lab. "You remember the drill, right?"

"Of course," he grumbled, getting on the exam table and lying down there.

Many many years ago when X had first seen Zero (dragged in unconscious into the engineering bay), he and Dr. Cain had worked on him practically blind, as his systems and programming were just different enough that X wasn't sure what everything did. They had gotten lucky in containing the latent virus then, helped some in that the active strain had jumped fully over to Sigma. Then during the fifth war, when they knew quite a bit more about why he'd been designed that way, Zero had been doused with active virus, rousing his latent one at last. Ever since, they hadn't gotten it back into full hibernation. The viral programming was interlaced with his personality and memory data in such a way that it was hard to get it into hibernation without completely dumping his entire memory, and maybe resetting his personality.

So whenever the virus became active, for whatever reason, they had to go to such controlled measures in order to lock it back into a passive state. Temporarily. Someday, X had promised himself that he would find a way to lock it into passivity permanently, or even extricating that data without damaging Zero's memory again. But that required that he had a lot of extra time, something he found to be a luxury.

As X was starting up deep scans from inside the lab, he heard the speaker come on. "I'm here, X."

"Thanks, Professor," he said. "I'm going to need one of the items listed under weak sedatives shortly, so whatever is available here from that list. Ask me before replacing any of that."

"Sure."

"So what exactly happened this time?" X asked to Zero.

"Axl and I were fighting Sineswiper. You remember, the hummingbird that was in the original infiltration team. And, I was pretty pissed because of those crazed bat mechaniloids that have insane dodge skills against combat weapons. Even I had to get lucky to take out one, while Axl was nailing every single one he shot at."

"The bats around here are very good about that," Gaudile said.

Zero frowned. "Too good. I had gotten mad enough that I asked Axl to give me the Eagle Eye Force Metal we had found, just so that I could hit them. It gave me that weird tingling burning sensation around my arm where I had equipped it, but that wasn't enough to set the virus off."

"What kind of metal is Eagle Eye?" X asked.

Gaudile answered that one. "It's one that improves agility and accuracy, and is primarily used exactly how you did, to level the field of combat fighters against high dodge flight mechaniloids and reploids. It has an erosion rating of 5. But, the stinging and burning sensation is often reported by reploids at the very limits of their FM resistance. Were you equipped with any others?"

"No," Zero said. "I'm not fond of them."

"He has an extremely low resistance, precisely because of the Zero virus," X explained. "The virus and the Force Metals work on the same principle, but in different ways. They both depend on seven-dimensional shapes to increase programming and mechanical ability. But the Zero virus was created expressly with destructive intent, while the force metals seem to have no intent. The power they grant alone, plus the results of overloading, is often enough to corrupt people."

"I had read about that previously," Gaudile mentioned. "Had to in order to get this qualification. I just didn't expect to be called on it."

"But I'm glad you are here. So what did set the virus off if not the Eagle Eye?"

"While we were fighting Sineswiper, he brought out a force metal, saying that he was going to make us see his way. And then he heated it up, causing it to explode. It released some kind of energy wave that, while I couldn't see it, reminded me all too much of those free form Maverick viral bodies. That's when the virus awoke, stirred by that energy as if it was the Maverick virus. I had enough time to warn Axl, and then it was fighting against me." He paused. "It wasn't that strong this time; I wasn't that strong this time either. It did help when Axl got the Eagle Eye off me."

"The force metal released an energy wave when it was destroyed?" X asked, although he didn't look confused about it.

"Yes, it's something that was discovered not that long ago," Gaudile said. "But it must be overheated to a large degree, or impacted with a massive force. This seems to cause a release of energy proportionate to the power that was contained within the metal. A person's force metal resistance is good for stable energy release, but for that unstable sudden release, they can tolerate much less. Some miners were hit with a blast and experienced overload symptoms that were equivalent to three times their limits, even though it was found that the destroyed metal could have been tolerated by any of them."

"That explains it," X said. "Combine the sudden overload from the explosion plus the one you had on plus your low tolerance, and that must have triggered a resonance effect with your latent virus."

"This place really doesn't agree with me," Zero grumbled.

"You know," Gaudile said, "I wonder how he would be affected by a Minus Metal. Have you tried that?"

"No, we haven't," X said.

"Negative metal?" Zero asked suspiciously.

"They're rare forms of force metal that increase a reploid's tolerance to other force metals, effectively canceling out any stronger and more corrosive metals that are equipped with it. If force metal energy can have a resonance effect with the virus, could you use the Minus Metals to weaken or even cancel the virus?"

"That's an interesting theory," X said. "We might want to try that later. Okay, I need the sedative now. Don't move."

* * *

 

X was walking with Butler in the Governor's Precinct. The latter was feeling a little better. That death was a normal part of warfare. But that was why they shouldn't want warfare. "There's some people that can't feel this kind of guilt," X said. "They turn out to be real monsters, killing to advance themselves or get some twisted fun out of it. They might try to get guilt out of you, but they only care about death if it's their own they're facing."

"People like that shouldn't be in charge, of anything," Butler said. The mere thought that people could be like that made his skin crawl. Why couldn't they put themselves in the shoes of the other and see what damage they could cause?

"But for those of us who can feel guilt, even for one of them, we ought to stand up for what's right and protect those that can't fight them." X put his hand on Butler's arm. "Besides, you can only be in it for this conflict if you wish. Once the Rebellion is gone, things should settle down around Giga City."

"I hope so." He looked to the older reploid. "But how do you deal with being through this constantly?"

"It's rough, I'll be honest about that," he said, rubbing his eyes. "But I know things can be better, so I'll keep working to make it that way. It must be done."

"Right. And have you slept yourself since that battle? You seem tired."

He chuckled. "No, I haven't yet. I keep meaning to, but there's been a lot to take care of. Speaking of which, I should find Zero soon. I released him an hour ago and he said he was going to talk to Axl if he was up to it." They entered the lobby outside the command room.

And walked right into trouble. Axl was sitting on the couch, looking jittery and concerned. Zero was standing there tense, with Marino, Cinnamon, and Chief R nearby. "I can't believe it," he grumbled.

X moved a little quicker, knowing that Zero was prone to doing impulsive and even dumb things when he was in this kind of mood. "What's going on here?"

"I don't know what's going on here," Zero snapped. "You have a militia comprised primarily of civilian volunteers, most of whom barely have three month's worth of training, with the bare minimum of support on hand, and they're supposed to be up against a group of military grade reploids who have at least three years experience on hand? This is just ridiculous."

"That's why I'm helping them," X said. "I've spoken with a lot of these folks and they're good decent people who would rather work with the law, but they've been cut off from the rest of the world."

"How can you say that?" He left the couch area, headed for the airbus stop. X tried to go after him but he held up his hand. "Are you even thinking straight? You're working with the dregs of Giga City! You trust way too easily."

"Zero, watch yourself," X warned. He had just let Zero out of viral treatment, after all. A strong enough burst of anger could set him off again. "And if you would look around and calm down, as I don't believe you're thinking straight, you'd see that I'm right."

"Fine, you two stay if you want, but I'm going to work as I always do, alone." Then he stormed off.

Butler felt intimidated, but the silence that followed was awkward. "He might have a point, but that was harsh," he said.

"Sorry about that," X said, sounding embarrassed at his friend's outburst. "He's really not that good with people at times."

"Well, we know that he's working on the same side, against the Rebellion," Chief R said. "Maybe he just needs some time to cool down."

"Yeah, that could help," Axl said, sitting back in the couch. His hands were shaking, though.

"You all right?" Butler asked, sitting in a chair near Axl. X went over to R and spoke with him, ending up with the two of them going into the command room.

Axl scratched his head; he wasn't wearing his helmet currently. "Ye-yeah, mostly. My head doesn't hurt anymore, thank god, but I think they gave me an incompatible medical nanite dose. I'm having trouble keeping myself from shaking." He looked to Butler, noticing something. "Hey, you… you're that Massimo guy, aren't you?"

He smiled. "Yeah, that's me. Just call me Butler when I'm like this; that's my actual name."

He chuckled. "Really? So, you're like a butler with a superhero secret identity? Well, not so secret. But still awesome."

"That's about the truth of it," he replied.

"That is awesome," Cinnamon said as she sat opposite Axl. Marino opted to lounge in the seat opposite Butler. "And you're really strong; I thought you'd fought for a long time."

"No, not much longer than anyone else around here," he admitted. "I had a really good teacher, though."

"That's good." Cinnamon looked to Axl. "Do you think Zero will be back?"

He shrugged. "I hope he does, but it's hard to say."

"I see. He seems odd, though, since everyone calls him a great hero too, but he's so cold and serious."

"I don't really know the whole story," Axl said. "And I'd rather not talk about it with him gone."

"Oh, of course."

"But you know," Marino said, fiddling with her fingernails, "he strikes me as a broken heart kind of guy."

"What?" Axl asked, stumped as to why she would say that.

The thief smiled slyly. "It's in his poise and actions, even if he won't say it in words. He cares enough to want to protect everybody as a Maverick Hunter, but as soon as he's out of a battle situation, he makes himself defensive, cold, and distant. And that tells me that he probably once had someone he cared for very deeply, but that someone must have suffered a tragic end that hurt him terribly. So he doesn't want to feel pain like that anymore and tries not to care. But he still does."

"Aw, that's sad," Cinnamon said with full sympathy. "But kind of sweet too. Is he really like that?"

"As I said, I'm not sure of the full story," Axl said, leaving it off at that.

"How can you read someone when you've only spent a short time around them?" Butler asked.

Marino shrugged for a response. "It was something I was programmed with, reading folks like that. It helps. So are you staying with us, Axl?"

"Yeah, I think I will," he replied. "I was working with Zero, but if he says he wants to be alone like that, it's usually better to leave him to cool off. And I think X has the right idea; better for us to be helping you guys out while we're here than to keep trying to work separately."

"Thanks for that," Butler said. "It really helps with the morale of everyone to know that we have the help."

"That is good," Marino said. "It'd be nice to get to know you better."

"Huh?" he asked, puzzled at the question after her assessment of Zero.

Cinnamon giggled though. "Is that because you want to figure out how he copies people so you can steal that technology too?"

"What?" Axl asked, now looking panicky. Butler found himself chuckling despite himself.

Marino just sighed dramatically. "Oh, Cinnamon, Cinnamon, whatever am I going to do with you? You don't tell a guy a thing like that if you want to get from him what you want."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, puzzled now too.

She just winked. "We'll talk later, I promise. Just you and me."

"Well, ah," Axl said scratching his head. "You couldn't take my copy chip, cause I'm not even sure where it is. And I'm a different kind of reploid than you, probably, so you might not be able to make use of it. Even if you could, it's kind of illegal to install in a reploid now."

"Only kind of?" Marino teased him. "I can work around that."

"Don't do it," Axl said. "Trust me on that. I have to go through so many hoops now to keep my ability active, including regular visits to a psychiatrist to make sure that I know my own identity. It gets a little tedious to have to prove so often that I'm not falling into a dissociative mindset."

"A what?" Marino asked.

"It's a feeling of disconnect when you don't feel like you're in control of yourself, or that you're detached from your own body," Cinnamon said. "It happens often in the criminally insane so they don't feel emotionally attached to their victims."

The older female looked to her. "And how do you know that?"

Cinnamon smiled shyly. "It was part of my medical training. Of course, I'm not geared towards helping sufferers of mental diseases, but I have to at least know of them."

"Whoa, surprises all around today," Axl said with a smile. The others had to agree with that.

* * *

 

Sunbee flew after her partner, worried. The Governor's Precinct was busy at this point, given that the workers were doing things and it was currently open to the public. But that latter reason was the main reason they could be here. "Are you sure about this? We don't want to bug him."

"Well it has to get done by someone," Kratos pointed out. "We don't want to fail at this point by a fault in paperwork due to this crazy interference, do we? It'd be another five years of observation and stigma, or more."

"Yeah, but he's got to be busy," she said, hovering closer to him.

"Well I don't know if that other one Axl can do anything about this. But surely X could." They came to the main office cluster, where supposedly X was working from. Kratos knocked on the door.

"Come in," Cinnamon said cheerily, acting as a receptionist now. "How may I help you?"

"We'd like to meet with X, if we can," Kratos said.

"Um, sure, let me see… X? Can you take a couple of visitors now?"

"Sure, send them in," a voice came from a different room.

"Okay, go on," she said.

That was easy, Sunbee thought. "Thanks," she said as she followed Kratos to the office.

It wasn't anything that would standout as the office of an important officer, just a standard office with the usual furnishing and a mechanical plant air filter on the desk. But he'd only been there a short time as it was. And X was working very casually, having his helmet deactivated and his armor dropped back to something that could have been seen on the average Giga City citizen. He stopped in his work to look at them, then smiled. "Ah, Kratos and Yellow Sunbee. I was about to call for you, you know." He indicated that they could sit down.

"Really?" Sunbee asked. "What for?" He had to be really on top of things if he knew about their troubles.

"It's okay; what business do you come to me for first?"

"It's some legal work we need done," Kratos said from the seat he'd taken. "About five years ago, we were falsely accused of being Mavericks. We cleared the trial, but we've been under observation ever since. Our parole officer, Luftnoir, died in the initial conflict when the Rebellion was trying to take over Central Tower. We only have a month before our last review, but he was supposed to send in a report on us prior to that, due at the end of next week."

"So could you get us covered somehow?" Sunbee asked. "I hear the review courts are tough and even one missing report could be bad on us."

X nodded. "I see. I'm sure it must be tough on you two, and sorry about that. But we really don't want to take chances. Now that I know about that, I can file a report on your behalf. Professor Gaudile looked into our transmitters and found a way to get through the interference." He turned to the computer on the desk and started inputting something. "But it's still not perfect. The signal is weak, so this could take some time. By the time we get the interview session completed, I might have the parole form by then."

"Can you get any messages from outside Giga City?" Sunbee asked.

He shook his head. "Afraid not. We've managed to establish contact, but the signal breaks up before we can even trade video transmissions. But a receive and send text should be fine. Have you gotten a programming scan from the repair wing?"

Kratos nodded. "Yes, of course." He handed over two data files.

"Good." While he waited on making contact with the Maverick Hunter network, he looked over the results. "I was actually going to call you about the interference problem. The two of you have proven to be great assets to the Resistance, so I'm trusting you with this high risk mission. I need you to go to the Vanallia Desert District and check out how the situation is there. We've placed the source of the interference as being there."

"The Vanallia District?" Kratos asked, intrigued. "Isn't that where they tested the combat and survival abilities of military grade reploids?"

X nodded. "Right, until their environmental system went haywire and got stuck permanently on desert sandstorm setting. You'll be encountering not just Rebellion mechaniloids, but the natives who are stuck in aggressive mode."

"That sounds rough," Sunbee said.

"Right, and most of our force can't handle the place," X said. "The members of the squad I've been using could, I believe, but we're getting known to the Rebellion and if we send any of them, they'll likely get attacked as soon as they were spotted. You two, though, should be able to not just handle the area, but also to not cause immediate concern from whatever Rebellion members are working there. Still, be cautious there."

"Of course," Kratos said. "So you want us to investigate what's causing the interference?"

"Right. Do either of you have mechanical abilities? I don't have a field-capable engineer to send along with you, at least not to that area."

"No," Sunbee said, then giggled. "Kratos' idea of fixing things is to hit them on the side."

"Hey, it works," he said, looking to her. She gave him a 'really?' look. "Sometimes."

X looked amused at that. "Okay. Well then just take pictures of what's around there. That should be enough for us to work with. And get a map of what the area is like now; Nana says that she's having difficulty doing so. Try to avoid engaging the Rebellion members staffed there in battle. As the interference is their main method of keeping us under their control, they are sure to leave someone powerful there to guard their work."

"All right, we can handle that," Kratos said.

"Sure enough," Sunbee added.

He put down the data drives to do something on the computer. "Okay, so it's Luftnoir who died?"

"Yes, him," Sunbee said.

"I'll want to see who else he was observing…" X said softly to himself. "And get the forms… Okay, your scans are both good. And it may seem odd after giving you that mission, but I have to conduct the interview with a bit of skepticism. That's just how the procedure goes."

"Yeah, it's like that all the time," Kratos said. "We got to be such good pals with one officer that he had to pass us off to someone else."

"That is a good sign." X then brought out a light pad with a pen for use in writing notes on the computer. He did that while going through the entire parole interview with them, apparently from memory.

Every now and then, X had to stop to put in a password on the Maverick Hunter database, or request one of the forms he had to fill out. Normally, such things seemed to take only a minute to get everything. The fact that they could get through at all here was an improvement.

"Okay, that takes care of that," X said at the end. He started transferring his notes to the forms. "But you can stay a few minutes so that we can make sure this goes through."

"Yeah, that's rather important," Sunbee said.


	20. A Virus, a Scientist, and a Secret, part 2

A rather nondescript citizen reploid walked along the shopping district. His red armor with gold buttons was the common armor for many Giga City reploid residents, and his face and frame were both generic. No one could really pick him out. That really helped Ochre to maintain his position as an informant for both the Resistance and the Rebellion. Working both sides to his advantage was truly the way to play the game.

Right now, he was on Rebellion business, spreading rumors of the supra-force metal and Gimialla Mines. It was surprisingly hard to get rumors going sometimes. Everyone was talking about Zero, the interference, or suspicious things happening at Melda Ore Plant and Tianna Camp lately. Gimialla Mines, while a good trap point, just wasn't interesting enough to the average citizen to cause gossip.

Well, he'd done what he could. Ochre went to an interior hallway, where the angles of the curving staircase made it hard to see far. After checking for anyone being about, or any cameras watching him, he closed his eyes. A white glow formed around his body for a moment. This was always a risk, especially with Nana acting as an all-seeing entity when hooked up to the city network. But he knew that she was currently working on getting Ulfat Factory back in working condition for the Resistance.

When the glow settled down, Spider was there. He adjusted his hat. This form was much too unique and recognizable to use in double-dealings. It was kind of annoying in that way, especially since he liked this particular form. It had an edgy and cool image…

"Hello Spider," X said from behind him.

Oh ****…

Spider turned around and looked to the Maverick Hunter. He was just at the edge of the curve that he could see. Had he missed that, or had he seen him as Ochre? No, just play it cool. That's how this form was. "Oh, hey X," he replied, trying to be as causal as he could be. But his power core was still pulsing hard. "What are you doing sneaking around? You just about made me jump out of my skin."

He chuckled. "Oh, I'm in phantom ninja mode right now. Nothing to worry about." X came up to him, his yellow holoscarf flickering behind him. He didn't seem any different to Spider's eyes. However, his footsteps normally had a metallic thump to them. Now, Spider couldn't hear him at all. "What are you doing?"

"Just walking about," he lied. "The usual. I'm not the sort to sit still."

"I see. I know a lot of people like that. Listen, I wanted to ask you about your stealth mode. That's an unusual method of cloaking."

Get him off that subject, Spider thought to himself. "I don't know much about it; I just use it. That happens to a lot of us who were built in Lagrano's company."

"So I've heard," X said. He was quite relaxed, like they were just chatting. That was good. "Apparently, some of the Lagrano reploids don't even have entirely compatible systems."

"That's what happens when you're built by committee," he commented.

Nodding, he went on, "But Aile wrote that you were built by the Melda Group. That's what the official records from Lagrano and Melda say too. You were an exhibition piece, a proof of what the factory was capable of. That is why you are not one of their mass produced lines."

Spider winced, thinking some rather nasty thoughts about Aile. He was dead; how could he still wreck his business?

X turned more serious from his silence. "And I ask about the cloaking system, as that particular style is only seen with the so-called next gen reploids like Axl and Lumine. Melda never worked with that technology, instead developing the Giga City style used by the vast majority of reploids here. The Lagrano Group did work with some next gen technology, though."

"What are you trying to get at?" Spider asked, showing some anger in his voice.

"What are you avoiding telling me, Spider? And what are you trying to keep from the engineers?"

For a moment, Spider wasn't sure what to do. He had realized a while back that it would be fruitless to challenge X, as he would have to blow his cover completely out of the water in order to stand a chance. And he didn't want to reveal too much as that would turn X against him. But even remaining silent was a bad choice.

Thankfully, he got a break for a while longer to think on it. Two other reploids came in a nearby door, not caring who heard them coming. A male and a female came down the staircase, looking to be in very high spirits. X waved to them. "Hello Michael, Joan."

Like everyone else around here, they were pleased at the mere acknowledgment the Hunter gave them. "Hello X," the man, Michael, said. "Pardon us." He took Joan's hand and they whispered to each other, then laughed.

"Good for them," X said quietly, looking back where they had gone.

"Why?" Spider asked. They were just random civilians, like the one he had been impersonating.

X looked back to him, almost playful. "Michael is a vehicle mechanic and Joan is a security officer, both from the Gimialla suburban area where the humans lived. They were that, at least, before the fighting broke out. He's had a crush on her for a long time, so he must have finally gotten up the nerve to ask her out."

He raised his eyebrow. "And why should that matter?"

"If you have to ask that, you might not understand why," X stated, heading on up. His motions were still fluid and silent. "And that just gives me another reason not to trust you." He left it at that.

Spider waited a while, then clenched his fist and cursed under his breath. He thought he'd gotten X to trust him. And now... he still didn't get why or how, but he was going to have to do something major to actually win that trust. Otherwise, X might call him out in front of others and he would be in serious trouble.

But what could he do?

* * *

 

Marino looked into the lobby unnoticed. Axl had been doing some work for X, but that seemed to be done and on the table now. Near him was Cinnamon; the two were talking about the forest district. They seemed to be getting along well. But, more importantly, it was just the two of them in the lobby.

Perfect.

She went in all causal, as if she wasn't planning a little heist. "Oh, hey Cinnamon, Axl."

"Hi Marino!" Cinnamon said while Axl waved to her. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing much," she said. "I was just thinking about going out somewhere for a bit if things are quiet. What about you?"

"We aren't doing much, just chatting," Cinnamon said.

"Since the Preons aren't invading you guys any more, we've got mostly scout groups checking out the remaining districts under Rebellion control," Axl added. "So long as you don't go near there without telling R or X, I suppose it'd be okay."

"That's nice," she said, stopping behind the couch they were on. "I got my boat back from the forest district. Do you want to come with me? It's really quite nice down on sea level."

Cinnamon's eyes sparkled. "Oh really? That would be great, Marino! I've always been in the treetops, never down on sea level. Thanks."

"Are you up to something, Marino?" Axl asked, a little suspicious.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. But I did invite you too. What do you say? Take a little break and come see the sights of Giga City's ocean? I can even show you a whale."

"There's actually whales around here still?" Cinnamon asked, intrigued.

"Let me go get this to X and tell him that we're going," Axl said, picking up his work and heading towards the command room.

All well, Marino thought. Couldn't expect a clean get away. But who knew? Maybe X was busy and would dismiss them without a second thought. She went with Cinnamon to follow Axl.

But X didn't look busy when they went into the control room, turned from his console with whatever research he'd been doing still open. And Axl was already telling X what she had said, so there went strategically interrupting him. Then X simply nodded. "All right, we don't have anything planned for the next six hours. You three can take off for that time period if you wish."

"Thanks, I'll keep an eye on these two kids," Marino said, before sending a teasing private com message, " _Trusting me with them, are you?"_

"Don't get too close to Rebellion territory," X said aloud, then sent back a message to her, " _I trust Axl to fight if you go too far. And I can track you three through my encrypted com server. If I can't locate you three, I'm going to come right after you myself."_

"We won't," she said aloud, then replied, " _Right, I'll keep that in mind."_

"And watch yourself, Axl, since you're going out with two girls," X said to his peer. "Cinnamon's fine, but Marino seems to be designed off a kunoichi, so be careful of her."

"A what?" Axl asked.

"Isn't that just a female ninja?" R asked.

X nodded. "Yes, the deadly assassins who can conceal weapons anywhere on themselves, even if they're naked. They were quite useful for knocking off amorous men."

"Seriously?" Axl asked, looking a bit incredulous at X.

Marino grinned; she couldn't help it, not after that comment being made by X of all people. From what she could read about his body language, he was very much a chaste and courteous man. But Axl still had a stroke of immaturity, although it was weakening. X might brush it off, but she had to tease Axl. "You want to find out?" she asked coyly, leaning closer to him.

He was caught tongue-tied for a moment, between the differing implications of it. "No?" he finally said.

A bit distant away, Nana chuckled at that, while Cinnamon covered her mouth and giggled. Marino nodded. "Wise choice, perhaps."

"Go on, before you get yourself in too much trouble," X said, smiling at them as he returned to his work.

It was a little awkward between the three of them as they left, but Marino soon changed the subject to whales, which got Cinnamon's full attention. They rode the air bus in order to get down to the sea docks where Marino's boat was. It was a speedboat that could take around five human or human like beings on it, and was painted in a sea camouflage pattern. When she'd originally picked it up, it had been an unmistakable bright yellow and green. That had to go. She normally returned the things she 'borrowed', but the past owner of this boat had it coming to him.

It didn't take them long to get a good distance from Central Tower. She opted to head for the ruins of Lagrano Tower, as that was a good neutral territory. Nobody could object to that. Especially not the whale.

"The Professor has been trying to get with a project to help the Earth heal up from the scars of battle," Cinnamon said, looking out over the passing water. "That would let us put more life into the seas."

"That'd be great," Axl said, leaning with his arms on the side of the boat. "I went and saw the great genetics library once. It's really a quiet place, but just being there is kind of amazing. They've got so many genetic samples in storage there and they could bring every single one of them back, if the lands and waters can support them."

"That's awesome that you could go in there," she replied. "The Professor says that it's highly restricted access to the world genetics library, as they don't want anyone ruining what's there. That could kill off the potential to bring back an entire species if that happened."

"That would really suck for the world," Marino said. Right then, she got a private message. She replied with, " _Yes, this is Marino checking in. I've brought along the Force Metal Generator. And a bonus. Let me bring these two in to meet with Palei."_

" _I will alert her,"_ the reply message said. " _Surfacing shortly."_

"This is about where you'll find the whale, sometimes," Marino said aloud.

"Oh, great!" Cinnamon said, straightening up and looking around. "Where is it?"

"Watch the surface of the water… there!"

Ahead of them, the surface was disturbed, then lifted as something large came up. Then a giant mammal, like a blue whale, broke the surface. At least, it looked that way, until one looked at its head. There, a panel of steel and lights opened up, checking out their surroundings. It was entirely natural looking otherwise.

"Wow, it's a mecha whale," Cinnamon said, still delighted at seeing it.

"Who would build something like a mechanical whale?" Axl asked, suspicious but not showing it much.

"A friend of mine," Marino replied honestly. "This is our home base. We'll go in; she's here currently."

"Great! Does she know the Professor?" the girl reploid asked.

Marino nodded. "Sure does, although it's been a while since they've met. He might not remember her quite so well; I'm not sure.

Axl looked to her, trying to figure out if he should stop her or go along with it. Marino gave him a smile, then slowed the boat to approach the whale base. There were creaks as part of the whale's head detached slightly, then lifted up to open its mouth wide. On hearing that, she made a mental note to tell them to do maintenance work on the hanger bay. She drove right into the whale's mouth, reaching a hidden dock. There was another boat there, a sleek black vessel that was entirely enclosed. On the dock, there was a girl-ish robot with a sunflower staff.

The other vessel caused Axl concern. "Hey, that's our boat! The one Zero and I brought out here. Did you steal it?"

"I didn't," Marino said.

"Oh, that boat's yours?" the girl asked. "We picked it up somewhere, as it looked abandoned."

"We were busy," Axl said, sounded angered.

"It shouldn't be too much trouble if we take it back with us," Marino said, getting out of the boat to secure it. The mouth closed and excess water began to drain out. "Oh, and the Belladonnas like this girl here aren't quite reploids, so don't get too taken with their charming personalities."

"Well excuse me," the Belladonna said, making a good show of being indignant. "Dr. Palei is cleaning up from her work, but she'll meet you in the sitting room. We'll be diving again soon, so please don't panic when this happens."

"I never notice much more than what we experienced on the boat," Marino said, handing the keys to the speedboat to the Belladonna. "This way."

Even if they were inside a whale, space was limited, given mostly to the work lab area. The sitting room was cozy, with oddly angled and formed walls. Around a table in the middle, there was an assortment of armchairs. A false fireplace was crackling, keeping things warm. For a moment, they felt a slight sensation of the dive, but it barely shifted the water in a pitcher on the table.

After a minute, Dr. Palei came in. The humanoid reploid was wearing her green and yellow lab armor, which consisted of a long metal coat that was hiding all kinds of tools and storage spaces. A green helmet with a yellow eye shield was on her head, while a short silk scarf partly covered up a port panel on the side of her neck. A Belladonna followed her in.

Palei shook hands with all three of them. "Welcome back, Marino, and welcome to our guests. I'm Dr. Palei. Would you care for some tea and a snack? I was going to have a banana muffin myself."

"Sure, that sounds good," Axl said.

"I'll take both of those," Marino said.

Cinnamon put her hand to her lips. "Um, I don't eat human food, but I'll have some tea. Unless you happen to have any scrap metal you don't mind me taking; that's what I eat."

Palei smiled some. "Do you? All right then, Belladonna, if you would get us three banana muffins, four teas, and, let's see, one of the smaller coils of iron cord. Would that suit you, miss?"

She smiled. "Oh yes, that'd be fine."

"This is Cinnamon," Marino said. "She's the Force Metal Generator. And this would be the Maverick Hunter Axl. He's one of the next gen reploids, and a copy chip user at that."

"Ah, how interesting." Palei looked to Cinnamon. "I figured that Gaudile would do something to disguise his work, although I hadn't expected him to make a reploid for a cover."

"Well he explained to me at one time that it was necessary," Cinnamon said. "I didn't quite understand why fully; something about the way force metals don't extend into normal space."

"Hmm… I may have to ask him myself sometime."

"How do you know the Professor?" Axl asked, relaxing for now, but still observing the room for signs of trouble.

"We worked together for a brief time in the Lagrano Electronics Lab," she explained. "But it was a brief time, as he was leaving the company and I was coming in. We were actually working on the Belladonna project. They're made based on some old documents on the robot masters of the twenty-first century."

"Based on that old technology?" Cinnamon asked.

"That's right," Palei said, as the Belladonna came in with the requested items. "Thank you. You see, they turned out to be an interesting step between mechaniloids and reploids. They have a great capacity to solve problems without human intervention. However, they are still dependent on basic behavioral programs to dictate how they act, speak, and solve problems. If you come up with a unique and complex problem, a robot master like the Belladonnas can't figure it out and will revert to a programmed solution which might not work. A reploid can deal with such complex problems."

Cinnamon took the iron cord and nibbled at the end of it. It was a bit weird, but if that's what she did, so be it. Marino started pulling off the paper wrapper on her muffin. "And they socialize pretty well, provided you stick to topics they know about. Hit them with a bit of nonsense and they just stare blankly at you. Or insult you if you keep doing it, right fairy chick?"

The Belladonna rolled her eyes. "Don't be nonsensical, Marino."

"So what has kept you, dear?" Palei asked, putting some butter on her muffin.

"I got in right as the Rebellion moved in aggressively," she replied. "I talked Cinnamon into coming with me and we nearly made it out, but we got stopped by Dr. Psyche."

Cinnamon stilled at that. "He was a really horrible reploid," she said.

"Right, and had his Preons beat the snot out of me," Marino said. "But Cinnamon has strong healing powers too, so she helped me back up. I then met up with X and a mercenary named Spider. They were working with the Resistance, trying to get the Professor's assistance. We went in and got back at Psyche, destroying him. X nearly arrested me, but Cinnamon talked him out of it. And you said to make sure Gaudile got to the Resistance if other ends failed, so I followed them back to their base."

"Is that true, that you asked her to do that?" Axl asked.

Palei nodded. "Correct. I don't like the Rebellion myself, but I just went into hiding with my whale base. We can move around constantly, so I haven't been troubled, or even noticed. But I heard about the leak from Gaudile's lab and felt that I ought to offer some assistance. So I sent Marino to fetch her."

"By kidnapping her?"

She shrugged. "More or less. I tend to borrow things when people refuse to share new technology. But we always make sure to return it in good shape, right?"

Marino nodded. "Of course."

"Trade secrecy was awful here for the longest time," Palei continued. "Does this mean that you're all working for the Resistance now? Including Gaudile?"

"Yes," Marino said. "I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine." She paused. "And you say X is working for them, along with you, Axl?"

He nodded. "Yeah, we are. Zero's around too, but he's working on his own right now. We're trying to figure out how to talk him into it."

"And Zero? Hmmm…" she chuckled. "How amusing. But fortunate for Chief R's Resistance."

"There might be work for you too, if you're against the Rebellion," Cinnamon said brightly. "Like R said, we need to combine our forces in order to stand against Epsilon and his followers."

"I'll consider that," Palei replied.

* * *

 

The next mission would be starting in around ten hours. That is, if Marino, Axl, and Cinnamon did come back as they said they would. It was risky to let the two of them go with the technology thief. But, X had shifted to a philosophy of letting younger Maverick Hunters get into trouble and get themselves out, in order to teach them how to be more effective. It was making their lower ranks more reliable. And in this situation, it was probably a good philosophy to keep.

As he got up, Nana glanced back to him. "Oh, X, before you go… I'm detecting Zero's presence in the district. He hasn't left."

"Really? How is he?" He came closer to see the screens near her seat.

She turned back to her station. "I don't know; I can only pick up a weak reading off him. It looks like after he left, he went to the shopping district, and then wandered around the levels until he came to the human living quarters. He's currently down in Area 832, in one of the apartments."

Checking the screen she brought up, X felt certain that he hadn't seen Zero like this except when he was under sedation. It was strange. If he had gone down to the shopping district, X would have expected him to use the teleport station to leave Central Tower. "That's odd. I should go down and check on him. What's the easiest way to get down there?"

"The teleport grid would get you there best," Nana suggested, bringing up a map of Area 832. "You have to contact me if you wanted to return back to this room, though."

"Okay. Well keep his presence here quiet for now and I'll see what's up."

She nodded. "All right. I've got the teleport unit here set for Area 832."

"Thanks Nana. See you later."

She smiled some. "You're welcome."

With the help of the teleporter, X was down at the right level in seconds. Right across the hall, there was a large hole punched into the wall, leaving rubble all over the floor. He looked around, but the level seemed silent. The damage had been done with some kind of personal artillery weapon. By the dust that had settled down, he could tell that this was old damage. And if there had been enemies down here, Nana would have told him before sending him.

Some people would describe a ruined area like it had been a war zone. Having been through several wars himself, X didn't feel this qualified. Yes there was damage, but not near as much as had been at Lagrano Tower. The Rebellion had indeed tried to force an evacuation, using violence more as a scare tactic. Although one apartment he peered into seemed to have been invaded with deadly intent, as everything inside had been wrecked.

In contrast, the apartment Zero was in was untouched. Whatever person or persons had lived here hadn't had much time to pack, as a number of their things were still around: pictures, books, dishes, silverware, and even a little toy truck. Zero was lying on a blue-green couch, touching the fabric and apparently absorbed in studying the geometric pattern there. He showed no signs of noticing X's presence.

Sometimes he just pretended not to notice people, but his behavior still worried X. He came over and nudged his shoulder. "Hey, Zero."

He looked over and smiled. "Oh, hey X. It's sure good seeing you again. I was hoping you were alive, but I got damaged enough in that fall that I couldn't come looking right off."

"It's good to know that you survived too," X said. "But what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me." He turned his attention back to the fabric. "I feel really good. Got nothing to worry about; I feel better than I have in years."

X frowned. "What about the great big hole in the wall down the hall?"

"None of my business. Although my armor does feel strangely heavy. I don't notice most of the time; dunno why I do now. But it's nothing to worry about… it's all good."

While Zero had been rambling, X brought out his scanner and began checking over him. "I think something's wrong. You don't don't worry completely, even if you hide it better than me."

"I dunno why I don't," Zero said, then paused to think about it. "Why I don't don't worry… do worry? Or don't?" He laughed. "I'm not worried, not about not worrying or worrying, or… what were we talking about?"

His energy was abnormally low, so all of his mechanical processes were running slow. That would be why he thought his armor was heavy. As for his mental patterns, it wasn't easy to tell on a small unit like this, but the data was strange. It wasn't the virus, as no signs of that showed. X decided to try getting him angry. "We had come back from dealing with the traitor Mach Jentra," that didn't cause any reaction, "and I had been working with a civilian force to deal with the Rebellion. You felt that they were deadweights to our mission."

"Oh." Zero glanced back to him. "Not that it matters. We're still around; we can handle them. Just, not right now. I'm…" he paused, trying to think by looking back at the pattern.

"You're what?" X asked sternly.

He smiled and shrugged. "I dunno. I'm not worried; I feel all right."

According to the scanner, he wasn't feeling angry. He was feeling abnormally happy and relaxed. X wasn't sure what was causing this; it was certainly a new situation. Then he felt a kind of mental prodding, like his love metal was trying to relate something to him. Something about force metals. X took Zero's left arm, where his FM slots were. And yes, he was wearing one.

But when he reached for it, Zero tried to hold him off. "Hey, don't mess with that."

"Why not?" X asked. When he didn't immediately reply, he added, "Tell me what you've been doing since I last saw you."

"I've been here… this pattern is odd, you know; looks like a bunch of cubes, but I can't tell which ones are going in and which are going out…" he started to reach for the back of the couch again.

"You were in the shopping district," X prompted, waiting for his chance to remove the metal.

That seemed to stir his memory. "Oh, right, right, I was. I stopped by the force metal shop cause I remembered you talking about those things, the negatives…"

"The Minus Metals," he corrected, then removed the one Zero was wearing. It was blue-gray with white crystals. And yes, by the label on the base, it was a Minus 30. "Went for the strongest one, did you?"

"Yeah, I figured I might as well try…" then he looked back over and noticed that the metal was gone. "Hey, why'd you steal it? Give it back. It was working like you thought… I didn't feel anything from the virus."

"If you wear this much longer, you might not feel anything at all," X said, then checked the metal. The scanner reported that it was a perfectly normal Minus 30 force metal. "It seems you have abnormal reactions to all force metals."

"But that was working…" he tried to get it back, but his motions were much too obvious. Then he put his hand to his forehead. "I feel weird now. You should have left it."

X shook his head. "That would be your body trying to readjust. Look, just take a quick nap so everything can reset. I'll get the door to this apartment locked and if you want to talk to me after you're back to normal, then just contact me."

"What, you're just going to leave me here?" Zero replied, finally sounding a bit angered. Not by a lot, and he struggled to get sitting upright. "I've been looking for you and here you are…"

"You left the group I'm helping," X pointed out. "And this is a safe location. It seems like no one's been down here in weeks, but I'd lock just in case."

He looked blankly for a moment, then said, "I'd rather you stay."

Well, he was supposed to be on break right now. He hadn't expected to stay here for long, but nodded and sat in another chair. "Fine. But you get some sleep or I'll bring out the hammer."

Zero dropped back down on the couch, saying, "I thought I was the one who had to bring out the hammer to get you to sleep."

X smiled at that. It was a joke between them based on an old incident, in which Zero had interpreted advice to 'make sure X doesn't exhaust himself working' by dropping a hammer onto his head to make him visit the repair bay, where they would put him to sleep. "You've done it to me, so I'll do it right back to you."

"Sure, sure," Zero mumbled, then closed his eyes. He was asleep not long after.

As X wasn't one for sitting around and doing nothing, he checked around the room and noticed an installed computer. He wanted to stay alert while Zero was here sleeping, as he wasn't in a state to defend himself in the off-chance something attacked. His friend would be more worried about being seen like this. So he went to the computer and continued some of his research. Now that they held Ulfat Factory, he had access to files about contract work done for the Lagrano Corporation as well as information about the Preons.


	21. A Virus, a Scientist, and a Secret, part 3

Seeing the psychologist did help. Butler didn't feel quite as shaken as he had earlier. However, he was still contemplating the incident. Destroying another person's life was a sin on principle. But looking at the specifics, things seemed murkier. Was it truly all right to destroy a person who was corrupted and evil? After all, he had no qualms about killing Silver Horn and that had been the first death he was responsible for.

But Silver Horn had shown nothing but cruelty in his actions, as well as a glee in causing pain. He acted proud of torturing other reploids to the point of suicidal despair, as well as death. When he had fallen, he had shown no fear or remorse. Butler felt strongly that he should have died, or else he would continue hurting and destroying others.

Mach Jentra? He had been detached and materialistic. Angered at their intrusion, he had gathered his Preons to fight back. Perhaps he had been in the right to do that. Both X and the psychologist said that Jentra no longer cared about anyone but himself. That would lead him to use and manipulate others without fear of the consequences they would face. He had no empathy for their suffering, but did not feel perverted joy in suffering. When he had fallen, Jentra had been clearly afraid and shocked. Perhaps even regretful.

It was hard to see Jentra's death as preventing more suffering.

"Hey mister?" a girl's voice came to him.

Distracted from his thoughts, Butler looked down to see a reploid girl with red pigtails and a green dress armor. Oh right, that would be Annette. "What is it?"

"Are you the other Steel Massimo?" she asked, looking up at him curiously. She held onto a sketchbook in her arms. "Cause you have his voice, and his eyes."

He had said that this girl would likely figure the ruse out. Besides, there was no point in continuing it. "Yes, that's me. What do you mean by the other one?"

Smiling at being right, Annette replied, "Because you are the other one. I know the first guy; he had the same kinda voice but he was colder about it, and he had different eyes. What happened to him? I haven't seen him in a while, I noticed."

"He's gone," Butler said. As there were other people in the hall, he added, "If you want to talk more about it, we should go somewhere with less people."

She looked disappointed. "Oh, okay. I was going to show him some of my pictures. But you're Massimo too, so it's okay if you're a hero. So where'd he go?" She reached for his hand and tugged him to a different room.

Once they were in the room and the door was shut, Butler took a deep breath and said, "Annette, he died. He had gone to Tianna Camp before the rest of us and was killed by Silver Horn."

"Oh." For a moment, he thought she would cry. But then, she seemed strangely okay. "Oh, well that's nothing to worry about." She sat down on the couch and put her sketchbook on the table.

Butler sat down in a chair near her. "It's not?"

She nodded while flipping through the book. "Yeah, cause he's a hero, and not even death can defeat reploid heroes. Like Zero, you know? They said he was dead lots of times, but he's still around. So the first Massimo will be back sometime. But you're doing a good job, everybody says, although I don't think all of them know about you yet."

Yes, Zero had come back from apparent total destruction. But that was because he wasn't a reploid. Butler could recall Dr. Lagrano ranting a few times about how Zero wasn't, and that reploids were the robots based off of the basic structure of X's design. In that way, Zero was like no one else on Earth. X technically wasn't a reploid either. It had infuriated Hiram that they still hadn't caught up on those technologies, especially Zero's inexplicable resurrections. So yes, there was always a chance that if Zero was lost, he might come back. But the real Steel Massimo was gone for good and nobody could bring him back.

But how to explain that to this child? Butler wasn't even sure how far developed her mind was. "Pardon my curiosity, but how old are you, Annette?"

"I'm…." she paused, counting on her fingers, "I'm seven months old. How old are you?"

"I'm seven years old."

She giggled. "That's funny! Oh, here, this is what I was gonna show him. It's a picture of when I first met him." She turned her sketchbook around.

It was a childish drawing, done in crayons. And yet, it was disturbing to Butler. It was nothing like the things Cindy would have drawn. "Why are there people on fire?" he asked, trying not to sound creeped out.

"Cause they were," Annette said, then started pointing. "My mom and me were gonna leave Giga City with the humans, but the Preon guards didn't like that. They called in these guys," which included one that seemed to be Mach Jentra, "and they attacked with fire, and wind, and water. But then Steel Massimo came in and killed the fish guy, and scared the other two away. My mom was all burnt up," she paused to rub her eyes, "but he told me to get out of there, and then he helped me back to a safe place."

"That's a terrible thing to happen," Butler said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

She clutched it. "Yeah. I cried some, but I'm gonna be a strong girl, cause I wanna be a hero like him and save people. I wanted to draw a picture of him being heroic and brave, winning the battle. But he only got one of those guys."

"We got rid of the fire guy there," Butler told her. He thought one moment that it might have been worth it to kill Jentra if he had fired on a crowd of innocent people, but then felt unsettled that any explanation would make killing better.

"Oh, okay. What about the green bird?"

He'd heard something about a hummingbird reploid recently… oh right. "I heard that Zero and Axl defeated him too, so they're all gone now."

Annette smiled. "That's good, cause then the cyber angels can punish them for what they did. I'll be okay. Do you want to see more of my pictures?"

"Sure." Hopefully they wouldn't be as creepy as that fire one.

* * *

 

Peace had been there. A time when he didn't have to fight and he didn't get restless or bored, it had been there and he had truly enjoyed it. When he didn't have to care about obligations, or manipulations, or rules, or anything really… when he could just be and be happy about it. He never thought that could be possible, but he had it all to himself.

And it was gone now.

Zero did not want to wake up. He kept trying to figure out how he had felt that strange serenity and how to find a way back to it. However, his memories of the past several hours were murky, clouded by that peace. Once his consciousness came above a certain level, he was also able to consider that there was something wrong about that peace. It had felt good, but it had not been normal. Plus, his awareness had been greatly reduced. Anybody could have snuck up on him in that state.

Realizing that, Zero did his best to ignore what was gone and figure out what was going on. It was quiet around: there were sounds of an environmental control system, so he was indoors. There was a small computer around, but not enough for an office, so this was likely a domestic area. And there was another reploid in the room, one who was comfortable enough with his presence to sit on the couch he was lying on.

"We're alone right now, so there's nothing to be concerned with," X said. He would know when Zero was actually stirring rather than sleeping. "How are you feeling, Zero?"

It was X, so he could be honest. "Miserable," he said, opening his eyes and sitting up. They were in a furnished but abandoned apartment. "I'm having some trouble remembering what happened. I know I was here with you, and I was content with whatever, and..." something troubling occurred to him as he turned to X, who looked back curiously. "Wait, what were we just doing? You're here, and," no one else seemed to be, "wait, X, were we…? No, why am I rambling? I shouldn't be rambling. I should just stop talking, right?"

Partway through that, X smiled, then cracked up. "Yes, Zero, that might help. Want to start over?" He started up his scanner unit to check on him, as usual.

"Yes, thank you." He started up his own self-checks to see if anything was wrong, as well as checked on what his internal virus was doing. Strangely enough, it was extremely passive, taking only a fraction of its usual power. "What happened?"

"You got stoned," he said, with a bit of playfulness. "Or something like that. The force metals don't act as mind-altering substances to most, but they seem to do that in your system."

"Is that it?" His results came back in, noting that a number of his systems were still running at low or slow levels. It would take some time to fully shake off the sluggishness. "Power is a drug too, you know that, and that affects all the others. Maybe I'm just more sensitive to the effects. Still, it doesn't seem safe to mix my systems and 'mind-altering substances', at all. Even if it did feel really good and I felt like everything was fine and peaceful for once." He could see the Minus 30 sitting on a nearby table; it was tempting to take it again. But, no, he shouldn't. "I didn't think it'd do that. Somebody could have attacked me and I wouldn't have done a thing about it. I shouldn't be that way; I should be able to take care of myself. Am I rambling again? I should stop doing that." He put his hand on his face. What was with him?

"That would help," X said. "I think what's happened is that the Minus 30 turned down some of your mental filters and inhibitions. You're speaking whatever's on your mind without recognizing when you are. Although your filters didn't seem to be on as well when you snapped at everyone and insulted the Resistance in front of their leader, and all my friends from the group. That was incredibly rude."

"Did I?" He reviewed those memories again. He acted that way around other Maverick Hunters, but then again, they got to expect it out of him. Except for Axl and X, those had all been outsiders and strangers in the room. He stopped glaring. "I was having a really bad day. I'm sorry."

"They deserve an apology more than me, but I know you won't do that directly." He checked his scanner unit. "You've recovered, but not fully. I'd say that you shouldn't be using this Minus 30, but I do want to see how you react with a lesser model in greater detail. It could give us some insight into how to shut down your virus."

"I'll consider it." He watched as X took the Minus 30 away, feeling that temptation to take it back. "Though I'm afraid that I could get addicted to those things. So what are you doing here? What happened?"

"I came down when Nana informed me that you were still here," he said. "And you asked me to stay with you, but then you fell asleep after I said I would."

On reviewing his memories again, that seemed to be right. "I see. I'm just curious, but do you still have that love metal with you?" When he nodded, Zero glanced at that hidden panel and asked, "What does it do for you?"

"Currently, it's boosting my energy and defenses, helping me cope with the load of work I've got now. But when I fell off Lagrano Tower, it was the main thing that saved me. It put all its energy into making a barrier around my core programming to make sure none of that got damaged. And then it boosted my self-repair programs to help me back onto my feet sooner. I'd still be recovering from that fall and the limited medical they have here otherwise."

"And those things have no erosion factor?" Zero asked. That seemed so strange that these potentially more potent metals had no cost.

"None," X said. "They're definitely the oddballs out, but more promising than most. I don't know if that Minus 30 would have killed you outright; I'll have to look into this closer. But it definitely would have obstructed any effort to defend yourself if you had gotten in trouble."

"I see." He shrugged. "I do want your thoughts on why you're helping this ragtag militia."

"Because they're mostly innocents who would get slaughtered otherwise," X said, completely honest now that he didn't have to use social niceties. "There's a handful around who could have put up a fight and done a decent job. But the Rebellion reploid members I've fought so far are really good. Top notch military grade reploids who have had a decent amount of training, and the one who leads them, Epsilon… I only know what I've read and observed about his strategies, but he's likely a genius. Maybe not the best leader, although he does inspire strong loyalty in the saner members of the Rebellion. But there are significantly insane reploids in there too."

Zero nodded. He had known that the situation wasn't good. His problem had been that X was still letting the Resistance members head into danger. "And what about that little squad you've got together? I heard that that Marino chick is a thief."

"And a technology thief at that, yet I let her go off with Axl and Cinnamon not that long ago," X said. "I have faith in Axl, though, that if they get into trouble, he can get himself and Cinnamon out of it. Consider it a test, both of how serious Marino is about being loyal to the Resistance and how well Axl is doing."

"Ah. And the others?"

X considered that, mentally noting on them while tapping against his fingers. "Well, Cinnamon is a novice, but she has strong potential. One of her biggest obstacles is that her father Professor Gaudile is more than a little protective of her. She's coming out on the better end of sheltered novices, though. And Steel Massimo, I think he's the most promising and best of the Giga City novices on the team, maybe even in the whole group. He's been shaken up by the realities of warfare, but he has a very kind heart and a good command over the battle armor that he's inherited."

"Sounds just like your sort of fighter."

"Right. And then there's Spider." He frowned. "I'm still on the fence about him. He's a mercenary, so already, his loyalties are shaky. He's more experienced and skilled than the rest, so I don't have to give him exact orders like the rest. But… he's just sending so many conflicting signals right now that I don't know whether to trust him fully or throw him out of the Resistance entirely. I'm leaning towards keeping him away, though."

"Someone you don't trust?" Zero asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and that kind of says something about him right there," X agreed. "I originally put him on my squad because I mistrusted him and wanted to be able to handle the fallout should he turn on us."

Zero thought about that. Due to what had happened in the early days of the Maverick conflicts, he hated traitors with a passion. They tricked their way into earning the trust to be cared about, and then abused that trust. But if that betrayal were to potentially fall on him, or on some novice, "In this group, that may have been the safest thing to do without invoking his retaliation. So what's up next for you?"

X straightened up, losing whatever relaxing he may have been doing to discuss business. "We're going into the Gimialla District, into the mines. It's an e-crystal facility that was transported here when Giga City first started up. Now that most reploids here are run with force metal systems, it's a bit archaic."

"But those could still be used to power vehicles and larger weapons," Zero pointed out.

X nodded. "Part of the reason we want to take it back. Also, we've learned from our scouts that two undeniably criminal members of the Rebellion have been stationed there. One of them is Shadow."

Shadow? A scowl escaped to Zero's face before he could restrain it. That traitor had very nearly gotten into his limited circle of fully trusted allies.

Continuing on, X said, "The other is Incentas, one of the military reploids built in Lagrano Tower. Incentas was sent to the human communities here when Giga City was taken over by the Rebellion. Massimo tells me that Incentas killed many of the humans trying to leave, including Dr. Lagrano and his family. He's capable of wide and long range elemental attacks. Incentas and Shadow seem to be guarding something important in the mines. However, we can't detect anything beyond the e-crystals that would really be usable. It might be a weapons stash, or some kind of storage for them."

Zero closed his eyes, evaluating the facts. "Hmph. Obvious trap is obvious."

When he looked, X had a knowing smile. "And what makes you say that?"

He humored him by saying, "Two battle experienced military grade reploids with multi-ranged attacks sent in to guard an archaic facility in an underground mine? Yeah, they're trying to take advantage of the mine design to trap you guys in there, or just kill you outright with mass attacks."

Chuckling, X answered, "I agree with that. But the obvious trap is obvious to us. Not so much the less experienced folks around here. Both of us have dealt with this kind of thing before, so I'm fairly certain that I can handle a trap situation like that. The rest of them might need the lesson to sharpen their battle intelligence and senses."

"Another one of your infamous test missions, huh?" He laughed back. Some novices in the Maverick Hunters were thrilled to learn that X had picked them out for the first week or so. Then they picked up on how seriously (and far) he took their training. "Man, you're turning into one manipulative teacher, X."

He shrugged. "Well how else do you spring these unexpected situations except to expect them and not inform your students?"

"I'll give you that." Zero smirked. "But mind if I assist you on this little lesson? I mean, you're dealing with Shadow, and this Incentas character. It wouldn't hurt to have the backup."

X smirked back. "I expected you to make that offer if I worded my explanation the right way."

"Hey!" Zero called in mock indignation, lightly punching his shoulder. "I'm your teacher, remember?"

"Of course." He blinked, then touched his helmet. "You might want to head to Gimialla, then. Nana knows you're here, but no one else should. Axl and the two girls are coming back."

"Sure." He got up, but paused before going. "How's he getting along with them?"

"Axl? Really well, as usual. Marino keeps teasing him about stealing his Copy Chip, one way or another, but Cinnamon looks up to him already, as does Massimo, I think." He got up. "I'll show you where the teleport station is."

"I just wanted to know about the girls." Zero put his finger to his lips. "Since you're the mission commander, permission to tease Axl about having a harem?"

X grinned. "If it turns out that way, permission granted."

* * *

 

Sitting on the sea dock, X took a moment to relax and just watch the waves. He always liked the ocean and had considered several times getting adaptations to do underwater research. The chances for that rarely turned up, though, and he usually had something else to consider or pursue. After some time, a black ship started coming towards him. It surprised him in that appeared to be one of the Maverick Hunter fleet vessels. But it showed no aggressive actions and his three friends were on board. So he waited.

It pulled up into the interior dock, so he got up to go in after it. As he did, he saw Cinnamon and Marino come out. They were followed by a third woman, and then Axl. X thought briefly that it was good, for Axl's sake, that Zero hadn't been here. "Hi, X!" Cinnamon called. "How did you know when we were coming back?"

"A coincidence, mostly," he said. "What's this ship doing here? I thought you took Marino's craft."

"It's because they took Black Gull from us at Melda," Axl said, looking to Marino and the other woman.

"We returned it, didn't we?" Marino asked. "X, this is my boss, more or less, Dr. Palei. We talked her into joining us too. Palei, this is X, you know."

"It's an honor to meet you, sir," Palei said, shaking hands with him.

There was something peculiar about her, but he decided not to press the issue yet. "You too, doctor. And we're glad for any extra help we can get. We can go up to the Governor's Precinct from here, if you'd like."

Back up at the command center, X sent Axl and Cinnamon off on an errand, more to get them out of the way. Then he brought Palei and Marino to an engineer's room where Gaudile was currently working on something. The two women glanced to each other, perhaps nervous.

"Hey Professor, we might have someone to work with you now," X said. "This is Dr. Palei, Marino's friend."

The platypus looked at them, then looked puzzled. "Oh, is that so? Well it'd be good to have the help… but you seem awful familiar. I can't quite place you though."

"We worked together for a brief time," she said. "In Lagrano."

"She's a human, if that helps your memory any," X stated.

Marino looked startled. "Wh, huh? How did you figure that out?"

Coming over, Gaudile took a closer look at her. "Oh wait… Amanda Morrison? I worked with you on the Belladonna project."

Palei, or rather, Dr. Morrison smiled. "Why yes, you did." Then she chuckled. "But I must know too, X, how did you see past my disguise?"

He pulled over a few chairs and sat with them. "The position of your tear ducts, the design of your eye shield to obscure that and other signs, and the filter projectors on your helmet. That's how I could tell so fast, although time might prove more signs."

"Oh yes." She touched her visor while taking the chair given her. "This keeps most people from noticing, but I should have expected such sharp observation out of you."

"Amanda, what are you still doing here?" Gaudile asked, sitting with them. "It's dangerous for a human to be in Giga City these days. Even though Epsilon's orders were to simply evacuate, they would kill you if they find you here."

"That's why I've been keeping hard to find," she said. "And even then, I've been using this suit as a disguise. It covers most of the signs of what I really am, as well as giving some strong hints that makes most assume I'm a reploid. I'm hoping that what signs there are to the contrary are obscure, like the position of my tear ducts as X pointed out."

"Well that explains how, but not why," Gaudile pressed.

She smirked. "Well partly to test the limits of this disguise. I've had this kind of technology in development for a while. Also, you might remember that I'm not good in listening to authorities. I got fired for arguing with Dr. Lagrano, actually."

"Oo, that's trouble," Gaudile said. "Then again, much like you. But you should be a great help. I do remember that you're very cunning with armors and weapons. Would you mind finishing up the project to upgrade the current standard armor for our volunteer force? Most of them are civilians, generics at that, so it should be a piece of cake for you."

"That's fine. Although, given that I am a human and this disguise doesn't work too well if I'm constantly observed, it would be helpful if I was working elsewhere, out of the main crowd of Central Tower."

"Right. We hold a few districts now. My labs are still damaged and not good for mass production."

"How is your suit for high temperatures?" X asked.

"It protects me in most circumstances," she replied. "Why?"

"We recently took Ulfat Factory. It is built to accommodate a few humans acting as engineers or overseers. You could work from there provided you had a guardian with you who knew what you were, and could help cover for you."

"I have the Belladonnas," Amanda said. "They're more sophisticated than mechaniloids, although not quite reploids. They'll do what I ask of them. Although if I had Raffie still around…"

"You took the Belladonnas, then?" Gaudile asked.

She nodded. "Well Dr. Lagrano didn't want them."

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you Professor, about Dr. Lagrano," X said. "Not right now, as I have a mission coming up. But in researching the Rebellion, I think I need to know about the man who is most responsible for their creation."

"He made me, but I'm not afraid to say that Dr. Lagrano was a complete and heartless jerk," Gaudile commented. "I'll tell you what I know."

"In that case, Dr. Palei," X said, with a slightly teasing tone, "we ought to introduce you to Chief R and some of the other staff, especially Nana. She's most likely to figure you out besides me. And then get you and your Belladonnas settled into Ulfat."

"Sure thing. I'll have to call up my whale lab for them, but that won't take long."

"Whale lab?" Gaudile asked.


	22. The Meaning of Friendship

The six members of X's squad met in the command room with Chief R and Nana again. Spider was still trying to figure out what he should do. So far, X hadn't made any more mention of him being a next-gen reploid. But Spider could now tell when X was watching him.

"Our next mission is to take out two specific members of the Rebellion as well as reclaim another district," X stated, bringing up a map of the city, then zooming in on the area. "We'll be heading into Gimialla Mines, which is a foreign block of land brought in to gather and produce E-crystals."

Spider blinked, but let that be the only sign of approval he gave. So he was triggering the Rebellion's trap. He might be able to make things work out on both sides still.

"We're after Shadow, the Maverick Hunter rebel who drew Zero and me to Lagrano Tower in an attempt to eliminate us, as well as Incentas, an especially destructive reploid that is known to have killed many humans and reploids during the forced evacuation period. They seem to be guarding the facility for some reason, so we may find some vital information on what the Rebellion is planning to do. We haven't seen any of the Rebellion reploids themselves in the attacks on Central Tower since Wild Jango. Since they are no longer sending any attacks, we can guess that they are preparing or executing some other plan elsewhere. Even e-crystals are still useful in Giga City so as to save the use of force metals for upper level mechaniloids and reploids."

This puzzled him somewhat. What about the supra-force metal? That was supposed to be the bait, not who Epsilon had sent to that location. But while they weren't mentioning it, Spider wouldn't either. That would send up a red flag, especially after X's confrontation with him.

* * *

 

On sea level, all that stood of Gimialla Mine was a large patch of rocky land that was covered in moss and dead seaweed. In the center, there was a steel structure over a cargo elevator. There were no locks or blockades to using the elevator, so they descended into the mine. They didn't know where they would run into their enemy, and there were four levels to choose from.

"Where do we go?" Cinnamon asked.

"We'll have to clear the whole mine," Axl said.

"Oh that sounds exciting," Marino said sarcastically.

"Keep your weapons at ready," X said. "Although we may have to split up, do not enter a chamber or hallway alone. When you find one of the two targets, inform everyone, but be prepared to fight on your own for a period of time. And if you get called to fight a target, make sure that you are not followed and make a mental note of where you left off your search. We can't leave any part of this mine unsearched, even after they're both taken care of."

Once the others agreed to the instructions, X instructed the elevator to let them off at level one. The elevator dropped them quickly to their location, then triggered a number of lights to turn on. Cinnamon wondered if that was a sign that there wasn't anyone here. Still, X soon paired everyone off to investigate parts of the mine. He went with Spider, Massimo went with Marino, and she was sent with Axl.

It made Cinnamon feel a little better, since she was still lagging behind everyone else in terms of battle ability. Axl was trained for this kind of thing, so that would help things. Still, she needed to do as well as she could. She looked around the tunnels, trying to find anything that might be suspicious.

In her studies with her father, she had learned about e-crystals. She saw a few of them in the walls, sparkling a white to blue light in reflection of the lamps. Most of them seemed small, still in the process of growing. The rocky walls were rough, showing both signs of tools to get the old crystals out and mineral patches to help the new crystals grow. But other than a few security mechaniloids like Metools and bats, which only watched them, there was nothing down Axl and Cinnamon's passage.

There was nothing down anyone else's paths, so they all gathered back at the elevator and descended to the second level. There, they finally ran into someone. Unfortunately, that someone was one of their targets, Shadow. Massimo moved to protect Cinnamon from the former Hunter's first shots, a wide spray of bullets from a handheld gun. Some of the others jumped off the elevator before it had descended fully.

X and Axl got to the front line quickly and fired their weapons. "Shadow, your treachery was worth nothing," X called out. "We both survived."

"I know," the black armored reploid said. "How annoying. But I mean to correct that mistake now. And," he activated a plasma blade, of a short but wide blade. "With the force metals that the Rebellion has given me, I can do that easily." He rushed at them.

X activated the extra defense he got from Silver Horn, while Axl dropped back and turned into Wild Jango. Their leader sent quick orders over their line. _"Massimo, stay back there with Cinnamon. Cinnamon, his weapon is too strong, so stay back there. Marino, see if you can't get behind him and damage the cannon system linked to his helmet. Spider, get closer and start fighting to keep attention off the two in back. Axl, stick with Jango's form for now, but be aware that it moves hellishly fast and has loose controls."_

Even with the warning, it wasn't long before Axl overshot one of the electric dashes and slipped right before he crashed into a rock wall. Ignoring him for now, Shadow went to slam his blade down on X, but even Cinnamon could see that his swing was too slow; X sidestepped easily and fired his buster at close range. Spider seemed reluctant to get up close in the fighting, but even though this room was large, there wasn't a lot of room for them all to fight. For her part, Marino fearlessly darted around and behind Shadow, but was knocked into the wall easily when he slammed his arm around into her.

Cinnamon tried to keep quiet, but she was worried for Marino. Still, she was too close to the action, and X didn't think Cinnamon's armor could stand up to what Shadow had. But Shadow was outnumbered, even with the two of them out of the fight. Now three, since Marino was down. They could handle this, right?

Axl got back up and dashed back across the room. This time, he managed to slow and spin around, then dash again at Shadow, giving swiping electric attacks as he went by. X and Spider had to occasionally get out of his way as well, but being shooters, that wasn't hard for them to accomplish. But then Shadow managed to time one of his kicks correctly to knock Axl into the wall, knocking him unconscious. Would she and Massimo have to get into the fray now? Massimo was readying his lance and hover skates.

Then, from somewhere near the ceiling, there was a flash of red and yellow. Shadow's helmet was glowing now, with some kind of weapon energy. But just before he fired, Zero appeared and tripped Shadow up, forcing the massive violet weapon blast to strike the ceiling. A large number of rocks fell in front of where Massimo and Cinnamon were, but not as much had been blasted out; all of that had been vaporized.

"I already told you, you're too slow," Zero said, seeming to dash away, but then going at Shadow to strike him on his way by. "And I'm going to make you pay for what you did to us, and Wedge."

"Speed doesn't matter when you have power," Shadow countered, then started to swing at Zero.

But the red Hunter blocked easily, giving both Spider and X free shots at Shadow. This made him angry. Cinnamon sensed something as Shadow began to swing his blade much much faster than before. She wasn't sure if the others could tell, so she said, " _It might not look it, but he's entered Hyper mode. Be careful."_

" _Thanks, Cinnamon,"_ X said. Zero reacted by fighting stronger as well. Although, he wasn't entering Hyper mode yet.

Shadow's helmet cannon began glowing again as he continued clashing with Zero. Spider and X started holding off, so they didn't hurt their ally. On one successful block, Shadow then grabbed hold of Zero's arm and heavily threw him towards the others. This wasn't enough to knock him out, as it had Marino and Axl. But it did throw him off balance for just long enough for Shadow to fire his cannon again.

Or nearly so. Spider darted in between Shadow and Zero and threw his card directly into the cannon. The blast caused an agonizing scream from Shadow as much of the stored energy collapsed right through his head. But some of it escaped and blasted Spider in the shoulder of his weapon arm. Not long after, Shadow collapsed to the ground, dead.

Cinnamon came out from behind Massimo, wondering. X soon motioned her to go see to Marino, so she nodded and ran over there to heal her. In the meantime, Zero had turned around and was looking to Spider. "A bit of a close call there, eh?" the mercenary said.

"Right," Zero said, if a bit reluctantly. "And just what are you guys doing here anyhow? I was tracking him down."

"After him, and another criminal in the Rebellion," X replied, then turned to the mercenary. "You sure you can handle that on your own, Spider? Cinnamon could probably do a good job for you."

"I'll be fine," Spider said gruffly, almost like the comment angered him. "I don't let anyone else mess with my systems and I've healed myself from worse."

"If you say so," X said, although he had a sharp edge to his words. What had happened between them? But this wasn't the time to ask. Cinnamon nearly had her first patient healed.

"Hmm?" Marino asked, restarting herself. She sat up and looked around. "Well, that was embarrassing," she mumbled.

"It's okay," Cinnamon said. "He was very strong. Do you feel all right now?"

She put her hand on her head. "Yeah, just give me a moment to get through my self checks."

She nodded, then went over to Axl. He had reverted from Jango's form to his regular form. But the damage he had taken from hitting the wall in the wildcat's form was still there. Cinnamon focused for a while on healing him.

While she did that, Zero agreed to go with them again, at least to seek out Incentas. "I would say that he's on the fourth level," Zero said. "I saw someone head down there, but went ahead and cleared the third and this level before I did, just in case. There's nothing else here, just more growing crystals and a mass of Metools. The third level has more Metools as well as Degravers and some reploid overseers. And the three of them are nothing to worry about; they're specialists who could care less about who owns the mine, just so long as they can keep working."

X nodded. "All right, so everyone had better be ready. We won't know what exactly the fourth level will be like."

Cinnamon got Axl going, then came over to the group in the middle, with Spider. He was testing out his weapons arm. "Are you sure you don't want any help?" she asked. "I'll be careful."

"Nah, I'll be all right for now," he said. "A bit stiff, but I can adjust that when I get back to Central."

Once everyone was back together, X spoke to them all. "The records show that Incentas has a number of wide range skills, ones that can be used for crowd control. So even if we out number him, he's prepared to handle that situation. Zero, Marino, you two should go in first, to see what kind of defenses you can identify on him. We'll adjust the strategy from there, but it's likely that I'll send Massimo up with you. You will take the brunt of a lot of his weapons because your suit can soak that damage up; are you all right with this?"

Massimo nodded. "Yeah, I can take it."

"Axl, stick to your base form and pistols unless I ask otherwise. Spider, how's your card shooter?"

"It should work," he said, looking it over.

"Well don't take needless risks," X said. "You and Cinnamon should stay back. You," he pointed to Cinnamon, "definitely use weapon items, both to damage him and correct any status issues that come up. I'll trust you with the E-tanks too, as it will be less hazardous to use those for healing in battle."

She nodded, then took the energy tanks from him. "All right." It was an important task, one she was proud to have.

"And you," he pointed to Spider, "I've got some defense boosting items, so here; use them on the front line fighters, then start attacking. I'll be supporting you front liners with my buster and switching up strategy as need be, so leave the thinking to me and if you want to try something, ask me first. Got it?"

They all agreed to that, so X led them back to the elevator and down to level four.

The tunnel they entered was much wider, and darker. Something smelled off, Cinnamon noticed. She wasn't quite sure what it was, though. There weren't any branching tunnels here just yet, so they walked ahead, spreading out to check out what was around them. There were some holes in the wall, but Cinnamon didn't know the significance of them until they all passed them, at which point large energy fields appeared in front of and behind them. Four crystals appeared from the wholes, forming two walls to block their path.

And there was an eighth person in the square with them when it was completed, when he passed through one of the shields. It was a reploid consisting of a large globe of energy, almost as tall and wide as she was. Much smaller legs and arms came out of this clear skinned globe, along with a strangely helmeted head. This was Incentas?

"Hah hah, you fools!" the globe reploid called out. "I am Incentas, and you have fallen into my trap. You came here for the supra-force metal, didn't you? Well, it's not here!"

"The what?" Zero asked, expressing the puzzlement of all the squad members.

"What's supra-force metal?" X asked.

There was an awkward moment of silence as Incentas gaped at them. "You… you didn't come for that?"

"No, we came here to bring you to justice," Massimo stated. "You'll pay for destroying all those lives in the suburbs."

That seemed to snap him out of it. "Well, no matter the reason you came," Incentas said. "It still stands that you are not getting out of here alive. I've lined this tunnel with explosives! And although I can pass through these walls, you cannot. But still, let's see what kind of futile effort you can put up." The energy in the globe turned yellow as he released a mass of electric bolts which everyone had to dodge in order to get into position.

* * *

 

Spider's shuffle weapon was useless after drawing two cards from it. Annoyed, he followed X's plan to use the defense items on others (if those things were going to be used, he wanted them used on himself), and then bombs and such. Although it seemed he might not get to the point where he could use the bombs. With every attack, Incentas changed elements, sending waves and bursts of attack energy at them. But even though he was hitting everyone else in the fenced off pen, he was still outnumbered and took on massive damage quickly. Especially when Massimo got into combat as well.

Perhaps Spider had won back the trust of X now, by taking out Shadow before he could blast Zero with that massive cannon he had. At the very least, he could tell that Zero owed him for the move and that bothered him quite a bit. He was the honorable sort and wasn't about to back down for that. Still, he had to be in top form now to really cement things.

Incetias finally gave up on the fight, having ended up near the edge closest to the elevator. His globe was showing a large crack and oil was leaking from his smaller body parts. Seeming to feel that he couldn't last much longer, he said, "Bombs…"

Spider's mind flashed with an inspiration, seeing how close their foe was to one of the generating crystals. Maybe he could cement a feeling of trust in the Resistance, but finally break out of their hold over him with his supposed guilt over Aile…

"…activate!" Incentas called, then started to head out of the shield.

"No you don't!" Spider called out, pulling out another bomb, then rushing at Icentias in such a way that both of them collided into the crystal. He was perilously close to the shield, which hissed a threat at him. He activated his bomb and shoved it into the crack in Incentas' globe. Right as he did, he activated his stealth cloak and made sure to delete that key to X's encrypted line. That would be a major loss, but he needed them to think that he was dead.

The flash from the blast of the bomb, Incentas blowing up, and the crystal blowing up in response all covered for that bit of light that always came when he switched modes. His stealth mode prevented a lot of damage from actually hurting him. But somewhere in the forces colliding at that point, the love metal installed in his arm popped out of place and skipped across the rocky floor. The energy wall that the crystal was supporting vanished. All around them, there were ominous hissing sounds.

"Spider!" Cinnamon called out, shocked.

"Get to the elevator!" X ordered, startling all of them into running to their escape. Spider was going to pick up his lost metal (even though it had been causing him some irritations lately), but then X did so on his way by. Trying not to curse aloud, he invisibly followed them onto the elevator. He doubted even this stealth mode would protect him from a massive explosion of who knew how many explosives Incentas had installed on that level.

It was rather tricky to get into a spot on the cargo elevator where they wouldn't accidentally run into him; Spider made sure to get into a spot near an edge… and right behind Massimo. They went to the third level, so he ran off as silently as he could manage. But in that time, he had heard enough. He had succeeded in making them think he was dead.

And now, how to explain this to his partner in crime.

* * *

 

Stupid senseless sacrifice…

Zero bit his lip and closed his eyes. He knew the passion it took to sacrifice yourself for others. He knew that sometimes it had to be done. But such a thing should be a last resort. He used to not care about that, but now he cared very much for life, even his own. Perhaps Spider was still too young to appreciate that.

But still, one had to know that it was the only choice. They could have taken out one of the crystals without killing anyone. And Incentas was no Sigma; they could have tracked him down and killed him without losing one of their own. Not only that, but they were lucky that the explosion from the two deaths hadn't set off the explosives by shock waves, thus killing them all. Then that sacrifice would have really been in vain.

Still, maybe they had been wrong about Spider. The others were talking and it seemed they would agree. X had thought he might not be loyal, but then he'd gone and done the most selfless thing one could do. Maybe not the most sensible, but in the heat of the moment, judgments could be clouded. These people definitely weren't the best, but they were certainly passionate about their cause. Of course, it was their home they were trying to liberate.

They had only gotten to the third level when the explosives went off, causing a thunderous noise and a tremendous shaking. The elevator stopped abruptly, throwing them off and emitting smoke from below. Rocks fell from above, causing some squeals and dodging. But it didn't last for long.

"All mining personnel…" a voice stated over the intercom, paused, then started again. "All individuals in the mine shaft level three, please report to the great hall."

"Where?" Massimo asked.

Zero thought over what he'd observed in staking out this location. "This way," he said, leading them down one of the side tunnels.

It led them to a tunnel that was much like the fourth level, only brightly lit with a break area in one corner. The break area was a mess, with things crashed over and a few chairs knocked down. But a number of Degravers were gathering in there, soon accompanied by three mining reploids.

"Okay, what just happened?" one of the miners said, coming over to their group. "We lost a number of explosives this week and now the fourth level has been blown apart. I hope to God that the barrier didn't break and let sea water in."

X went over and spoke to them. "Sir, we apologize, but we came in here tracking down two criminals from the Rebellion. One of them, Incentas, must have stolen your bombs, as he used them to make a trap for us on the fourth level. He's been destroyed now, along with one of our own. And I think the elevator's broken."

"I told you, I didn't like that Incentas fellow," one of the other miners said. "He was insulting e-crystals and our trade."

"I've heard of that," the lead miner said. Then he bowed to X. "I suppose we should apologize, rather. Those Rebellion folks came in and told us that if we didn't join them, they'd kick us out of here. We… we aren't made to do anything else, so we let them do what they wanted on the fourth level. And I'm sorry about your friend."

X nodded. "All right, we understand. We're with the Resistance that's looking to drive them out of Giga City. We can send some folks in to help repair anything damaged and keep them from muscling back in. We might want to trade with you for some of your crystals, but whatever happens, we'll leave you to your work."

"Ah, thank you; that would be appreciated. Well if the elevator's out, there are a few exit tunnels." He whistled several notes, snapping his fingers. Three of the Degravers came forward. "I'll send these fellows along with you in case the way has gotten blocked. Just don't touch their pickaxes and they won't be any bother."

After thanking the miners for the help, they and the Degravers started off down an ascending tunnel. X seemed to be thinking on something. Probably about Spider, although Zero couldn't tell what exactly. So he spoke up. "Hey, you guys… look, I'm sorry abut being a jerk last time you saw me. I was in a really bad mood then."

"Because of the bats?" Axl piped up.

He scowled. "Don't mention the bats."

To his surprise, Marino grumbled too. "Dumb bats… you shouldn't have to equip a force metal just to hit some gosh darn bats."

"Besides that little issue… You guys are really serious about this. I suppose that if even a merc will put his life on the line to stop the Rebellion, you really deserve good support. So if it's all right, I'll join up with you all for good."

"That'll be great, Zero," Cinnamon said, although without much of the cheerful energy she usually had.

"I'm sure the people back at Central Tower will really appreciate this," X added.

* * *

 

Mission Data

Name: Zero

Builder: Dr. Albert Wily

Model type: Combatant Android

Equipment: Z-Rapier: A thin plasma blade that can be used for blindingly fast attacks, although its overall power has been compromised some. A modification of his normal Z-Saber, it was made by X.

Z-Buster: An extremely powerful and loud buster gun, but slow to charge. Has been modified some over the years.

Hyper-Black Zero: Zero in black armor and white hair; all of his stats increase.

A/N: Zero is a powerhouse right off the bat, even when you start in Chapter 1. He is a strong Combat-damage dealer, like Massimo. However, he has good speed, making him much more useful. His first Hyper is not that fancy, but still great. Drawbacks, he has low FM resistance, can only equip three metals, can't hit those stupid bats save for luck/Eagle Eye, and like Spider is only available for about half the game. Also, he has zero percent luck, which means he can't run from battles easily and enemies target him more often. But... that's totally appropriate in-character behavior! From game mechanics! Wow...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an observation, but I believe that in the game, chapters 6 and 7 must have once been reversed in order. This is due to a plot hiccup. As you see here in 6, Incentas believes you went there for the supra force metal. Nobody in the party comments on this. Then the boss of chapter 7 taunts you about the plot item and X asks him what the SFM is. Whoops!


	23. A Lost Ally

Don't speak ill of the dead.

Even in this age, when superstition was all but gone under the eyes of science, that idea still held sway over people. Even if the person was a jerk in life and you disliked or even hated them, after that person was dead, you didn't disparage them right after their death. Even if you suspected that something was wrong with that death.

X found himself constrained by this idea of respect for the dead. Most everyone else around him was upset or shaken by Spider's sacrifice a couple of days ago. He had used the time to do some research into Lagrano Labs, reading up on Gaudile's recent research, and looking over information on the other Rebellion held districts. Sometimes, he felt as though he should be saddened too. He never liked losing allies, like Biggs and Wedge. But Spider… he was still giving X conflicting signs of allegiance. Like the timing of his sacrifice. In the tunnels of level one, he had asked Spider something about Aile, why he had left when his friend and partner had been suffering. His answer to that had been to avoid the question.

And then, there was this. He pulled the gray force metal out from under the microscope. "Professor, do you know any way to find out what a love metal will do, or who it would be attracted to? I saw an old article from you saying that it was unknown, so what about now?"

The platypus came over and looked at the metal. X let him take it. "It's tricky to tell," he said, looking at the metal. "This one has been taken care of. It might have been lost by someone. The metals will actually shift purposes when needed, or when an old purpose becomes useless."

"I see. Mine was focused on protecting me and healing me back up when I fell of the tower. Now it's more focused on keeping my energy steady when I'm working for long periods of time."

He nodded. "That makes sense. I still don't get how they apparently have the necessary intelligence to do that, to make sure that it's always helpful."

"They might be tapping into our subconscious. They do work on a seven dimensional level, so even if I equip it away from my core programming, it can reach over there and check."

"I've considered that. Also, do you know of angels and demons?"

He nodded. "Of course, but what do they had to do with force metal?"

The Professor tapped the metal. "I've let Cinnamon examine a few love metals, to see what she would do with them. She says that it would be difficult to actually make one, but she's been trying. Anyhow, she can take one like this and sense who the force metal would prefer. Sometimes they're very picky and only one individual would do. Marino has one, actually, and Cinnamon found out that her metal will only ever accept Marino as its user. Others, they will agree to adopt, so to speak, a new owner provided that he or she is like the old owner. The miners of Gimialla Mine have a love metal that has consistently chosen mining overseer reploids and no one else for ten years. You could give this one to her and see what she says."

"Right. Well what about angels and demons?"

He chuckled at himself. "Oh, right, sorry, got off on another tangent. Cinnamon tells me that when she holds a love metal, she feels like she's in the presence of an angel. Now I know that she's a romantic girl who likes that kind of idea, but still, she says it's because the love metal will always help and protect its owner selflessly, for no price and no punishment. But then there are other metals that she calls demons. The demon metals are usually taken off FM Mavericks, but she has called one fresh from the mines a demon."

"Really? What sort does she call demons?"

Gaudile shrugged. "It's all sorts, from a cheap Reboot metal to a rare Firewall, or even a Power 10 once. When she pointed these out to me, I combed over records and found that she does have a point. There are certain metals that have abnormally high erosion rates. They will usually offer great powers, like the Reboot had never crumbled upon use like most of them do. But they also seem to cause greater pain when a reploid gets into FM overload and the friends of a victim will report that they seemed unusually interested in acquiring and equipping new metals, dismissing the potential for overload. So the power of force metal is indeed a neutral force. However, there are also good angels and bad demons in the mix."

X put his arm on the back on his chair, as he was sitting in it sideways now. "Huh. It's strange that this force came to us without warning, in a random meteor that fell to earth. It's almost like there's some kind of intelligence to these things, but they require us to make use of it." He paused. "Like viruses. Although not necessarily bad ones. With biological viruses, it's been know for a long time that humans and other animals have beneficial viruses and bacteria in their bodies to help them live better in small ways."

There was a knock on the doorframe as the door itself slid open. Zero walked in. "All right, I'm here for that Minus Metal test. I hope it doesn't mess me up again."

"It's just a Minus 10 this time," X said.

Gaudile handed the metal back. "Well you should take this love metal to Cinnamon to see what she thinks. That's probably the best way to handle it. It's really impossible to sell or trade them, as they're so picky."

"All right," X said, sticking it in his armor pocket. He then picked up the Minus 10 he'd gotten from the force metal store. "Get yourself in the exam pod."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Zero said, making an adjustment before dropping down into it. "I've been put under examination so many times that it's an excuse to nap."

"Well that's a good way to view it," Gaudile said, pulling one of the input pads and monitors down to his level.

There was another knock on the door before Axl came in. "Oh hey, X, there's a message from Dr. Palei to meet with her when we have some time. It should be in your inbox."

He nodded. "All right, thanks for letting me know. I haven't checked my personal mail in a while."

"Hey, quit working so hard," Axl teased him. "You'll blow a gasket or something."

"Do you even know what that term means?" X teased back, smiling.

"Uh, not really."

Then Zero got a mischievous look on his face. It didn't last long as he went into poker mode. "Oh, X, you ought to let Axl try that metal you were just talking about."

"The love metal?" X mouthed, then said aloud, "Really?"

He nodded to both. "Sure."

"What metal?" Axl asked, coming in.

"Something I picked up in the mines," he said, taking the love metal back out and tossing it to Axl. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gaudile stifling a chuckle too. Apparently Zero wasn't the first one to think up using an unknown love metal as a prank on an unsuspecting reploid.

"Oh, cool thanks." He looked it over. "But what kind is it? It's not labeled."

"It probably didn't go through a store," Guadile commented in a neutral tone.

"Huh." Axl put it on, but had no reaction. "I can't even identify it when it's on me."

"Aw man," Zero said.

Axl looked to them suspiciously. "What?"

"That's a love metal," X explained. "It will only work for certain people, maybe even just one. And it has variable effects too."

"But it's more fun if it hadn't accepted you," Zero said. "Because then it gives you a nasty dose of pain."

He looked mad briefly, but then chuckled and let it go. "Oh I see. That sounds fun, actually, except that I got lucky. So it only works for me?"

"Sort of," X said. "That belonged to Spider."

The other three looked surprised. "What, really?" Axl asked, somewhat respectful.

He nodded. "Remember during his final attack and one metal managed to get knocked out of place? I picked it up on our way out on an impulse."

"But love metals only accept reploids that are similar to previous owners," Gaudile pointed out.

And that really worried him, even if he wouldn't let it show. X shrugged. "Giga City has been around for a while, and we're not sure where Axl was made. Maybe here. Also, they share a similar kind of cloaking ability as a hyper mode, at least to my observations. Is it trying to affect your Hyper mode?"

Axl thought about it. "Oh, I can kind of tell… it seems to affect my balance system… and… oh yeah, it's trying to do something with my stealth mode. I can't tell what, though. Might have to just try it and find out."

"There was that thing he did back in Ulfat," Zero said, "where he drew the attention of all those Preons while he was cloaked. I don't think those things are developed enough to respond to insults alone."

"Maybe. So what are they doing to you, Zero?"

"We are going to get him stoned," X answered in a matter of fact tone, causing the others to laugh. "In a matter of speaking. We're seeing what affect the Minus Metals have on his systems, knowing that he's hyper sensitive to regular metals."

Axl chuckled. "Oh, so that's how it is. Well as amusing as it could be to see that, I'll leave you to it."

"And you two had better not be recording this," Zero said. "Or at least keep any videos encrypted so I don't get embarrassed later."

"Of course," X said.

* * *

 

A few hours later, X met with Axl and Marino in the command center. "So Dr. Palei has robot master based Belladonnas to protect her now, but we'd like someone more capable," X explained to Axl. "She says that she's located Rafflesian, the last reploid she made under Lagrano, in the area of Tianna Camp which we currently own. We're to locate Rafflesian, plus any Belladonnas she has with her, and ask them to go to Ulfat to help protect Palei. Marino's coming with us because she knows the reploid."

"And because Raffie's something of an aggressive feminist," Marino added. "I'll probably be the one who will be dong the talking with her."

"Why is she an aggressive feminist?" Axl asked. "Gender issues are null at this point."

"Yes, but Palei and Raffie were both mad at Dr. Lagrano at the end of her employment under him," Marino said. "That had some influence."

Nana sent them right into the maze section of Tianna Camp, so that they didn't have to go trekking down the long hallways and elevators that made up the old district. Still, they had to search through several areas until they heard muffled dance music. Marino indicted that they should head for that so they turned down a partly hidden hall and came into a large room.

Music was blaring in the room, enough that they had to tune it out in order to hear anything else. There were two Belladonnas here, who looked surprised and stopped dancing. With them, there was also a girl reploid that was about the same size and shape as them, only with an ornate red and green dress armor over the simple jumpsuit armor the Belladonnas had. Rafflesian was whirling in place, but apparently hadn't noticed them yet.

"Hello," X started to say.

Then she noticed. She sprang at him and whacked him with her sunflower staff. "EEEK! What are you boys doing in here during my dance practice? Huh!"

X got knocked back into the wall and was grimacing with pain. Marino stepped forward quickly. "Whoa, whoa, chill out, Raffie. They're not here to hurt you."

On seeing a familiar face, her attitude did a complete turn around. "Oh, Marino? Hi, it's been a while since I'd seen you! I'm sorry; did I knock out your boyfriend?"

"Not my boyfriend, but he is currently my boss," she replied.

"Oops. Sorry! I just can't stand peeping toms, you know? I'm Rafflesian." She curtsied. "And these are my back up singers and dancers, the Belladonnas."

"Hey, this is Axl, and X is the one you smacked. By the way, were you powering up while dancing again? X has decent defenses."

Rafflesian's face turned pink. "Um, maybe?"

X got up, shaking his head. "I suppose it'll be okay if you help us."

"Yeah, it's about your mother," Marino said. "Palei is working for the Resistance now, as am I. But I'm on one of the lead squads based in Central Tower and she's stationed in Ulfat Factory getting things running there. She asks that you and your Belladonnas come to Ulfat to help protect her there. She'd ask herself, but you've been out of contact for some time."

"Oh, well, I've been getting ready for my breakout album as the next big pop idol. But, this whole Rebellion thing makes it impossible for me to send out samples to the record labels and even leave, to some extent. So, okay! I guess she wants Holy and Meteor back too."

"She didn't mention that, but probably," Marino said. "You still have them?"

"Of course, they're safe with me," Raffie said, smiling proudly. "We can go as soon as I get the equipment packed up. Rover, pick up time!"

From behind some speakers, a black dog mechaniloid appeared and began quickly gathering up the equipment into its data storage. Axl chuckled. "Well if she can clobber X like that, she should be all the security Dr. Palei needs."

"You know it," Rafflesian said.

* * *

 

From the windows of the walking tunnel, Epsilon and Scarface could be seen having a training duel. The former was much slower, but he seemed to take any punishment anyone inflicted on him, never reacting. The latter was able to dish out strong damage, the observers knew, and had decent defenses. Still, Epsilon could easily knock his colleague down with one blow.

One of the observers swore. "And he's supposed to be the brains of this operation?" she asked. "He could be a one man army."

"Not fully," the other replied. "See Luna, he has a condition where he's constantly in some kind of pain. He's learned to ignore most of it and use his supra-force metal to heal up immediately. That's why he's so good. But get him to run hard enough and he'll be stopped by his own pain, much less what anyone else does to him."

"Ah." Luna rubbed the long horn that came from right above her nose. She was based off a narwhale, but had assumed a land based form to come up here. "But Botos, how are we supposed to pull control of the Rebellion away from him? Everyone likes him and he can persuade anybody to see things his way. And he's got brawn too, and the endurance to withstand anything so long as his SFM holds out… how do you fight against a guy like that?"

"He does have a weakness," the brown reploid said. He was based off a tuning fork, or an old style stereo system; Luna had never decided which (especially since he was horridly tone deaf). "He is highly naïve for as smart as he is. He may say otherwise, but he doesn't understand others quite like you and I do. Sometimes he seems willfully so, as he turns a blind eye to all the hypocrisy going on."

"What, about how we say we're all for peace, but wage war?" Luna asked.

"More than that," Botos said. "He acknowledges that the war is necessary but he insists on fighting fairly, with honor. Now his two biggest lackeys, Scarface here and Miss Ferham, they're all for that too... well, Scarface anyhow. Ferham's willing to play dirty, in an all's fair in war and something, whatever that phrase is. They would rather we stick to sieges that limit loss of life for reploids and humans, somehow."

Luna nodded and watched the two combatants. Epsilon had waited while Scarface got back up and healed from his injury. Of course, they were just practicing. But something had always intrigued her about Epsilon: his complete efficiency over movement. He was still now, with only his cape moving. He made no useless moves, ever. Maybe it was his painful condition that taught him to be that way.

Botos rubbed his chin. "Epsilon told us to not fight unless we were fought. But hardly anyone is actually doing that. He told us to be non-violent when forcing the humans to move out. But, once they realized we were acting that way, they refused to move. They had enough supporters among reploids that we had trouble in cutting off electricity and other utilities just to humans. Especially with the city operator Nana on their side. So me and the others gave them reasons to leave." He chuckled. "But he hasn't suspected a thing! He took our word for it because we are members of the Rebellion." He shook his head. "That a load of…"

"Shh," Luna said, noticing someone else come in. It was just a couple of the high level Preons that lived here, but some of them were equipped with recording equipment.

Once the two mechaniloids were gone, Botos grinned. "You are so paranoid, Luna. Despite what's happened, Epsilon still believes in our integrity. He takes anything the Resistance says as pure propaganda and lies, even though a lot of it is the truth. And folks are starting to get impatient with the continued orders of restraint and inaction when the Resistance is plowing through our forces. Of course, they have three top level Maverick Hunters on their team now, so it's inevitable that the weak ones will get creamed." He seemed amused by this.

On the other hand, Luna's body felt chilled. Fighting was only a secondary occupation for her. She was supposed to be working on cleaning up the ocean and fixing its problems so that life could be stimulated back into thriving. She'd joined initially out of a dislike of humans with her friend Orwell (who had died early on, unfortunately). Now she was wondering if some reploids weren't worse and the humans weren't all that bad. Coming across the Maverick Hunters, especially their top three, was something she did not want to do. There were other reasons that she was feeling nervous, but she wasn't going to talk about them to her companion.

"So it's not going to be too hard to pull the wool over Epsilon's eyes further," Botos said. "Don't worry, hon, I have a plan that'll make us all better off. I just need to get a little something from Epsilon first. You wait and stick by me; I'll turn it all inside out."

"Don't call me hon," Luna said, rolling her eyes. "I already told you, I'm not interested in you that way."

He just laughed. "You'll be changing your tune before long, hon, I can guarantee you that. Come on, let's go talk to him."

Luna wondered if it would be smarter to dive into the ocean and not resurface for another year. She could do that easily. And she'd get a lot more of her primary work done too. For now, though, she followed Botos to the square where the combatants were.

* * *

 

Far out to sea, a lone hover bike sat over the ocean waves. There was an engineering reploid on the bike, leaning on the handlebars and muttering. This was not going to be an easy talk.

Finally, word came in. "How are you doing?"

"I killed off Spider," he replied, hoping to seem jovial about it. "Me and the other big shot heroes went up against Shadow and Incentas. Shadow died, but I screwed up my weapon and arm in doing so. It got Zero in my debt, which I meant to fully abuse. But then Incentas trapped us in a force field pen in a mine full of boom. I had a chance, so I knocked him into the field generators, killing him and apparently me, then went stealth to ditch the group. So I'm independent again."

He could tell his other half was annoyed. "You know, sometimes I think I would have done better over there. You keep jumping sides and changing short term plans with no view to our long term goals."

"I'm working on it," he insisted. "It's not so easy without you around. Well there's three more districts that the Rebellion holds. Or, rather, they're down to just three now."

"The Resistance is working that well?"

"Yup. Of course, it helps that they've got X and Axl and Zero with them now. They could pretty well annihilate the Rebellion right now, except X seems to have this idea of giving a fair chance at being a hero to the locals. Also, they seem to have their eyes on Vanallia next, to cut the interference problem. So you'd better be ready for that."

"I see. I can accommodate such a change. Well you'd best find what we're after."

"Yeah, I'm working on it," he said. "I doubt it'll be in the desert; seriously, I don't think anybody would trust Botos with that stuff so near his assigned position. So I've got two left to search, but I don't know much about them: Melda and that other place, the urban warfare training center."

"All right. But try not to do anything more that is reckless. We can't lose the game at this stage."

"I know. Geez, without me around, you're a regular stick in the mud."

"Without me around, you're a reckless show-off. You know very well that we..."

"I know," he said. "How's it going on your end?"

* * *

 

Yellow Sunbee crouched into the only shelter she could find from the endless sandstorm, a modest sized dome structure that sat in the northeastern part of the desert. There was a doorway that, while still locked, provided some shelter provided the winds didn't turn to from the south. Vanallia was rough, but she was managing.

As for Kratos, well, he had fallen into a sand pit. At first, she had panicked. The vortex of sand had to have something under it to draw the sands down, something nasty that might destroy her husband. But no; he'd come out just fine, somewhere in a deep underground maze.

Unfortunately, the interference was bad locally in this district. There was a communications pillar way back at the southwest corner, where she made reports about the underground rooms and the sand conditions. But in order to best hear Kratos, she needed to be over here, near this dome.

Still, why wasn't he responding? She was worried; he had been encountering lots of Preons. While the Resistance owned the main manufacturing plant, it seemed that many had already been made. Hopefully he hadn't been killed. She might want to return to base. After all, Nana had said that they were expecting them back as soon as they found a way for Kratos to reach the elevator to this dome, or located another working pillar.

"Honey?" Kratos finally came through.

She perked up. "Kratos! What happened? Did you get hurt?"

"Yeah, I was captured; they've got me behind some energy field now. You should get back to Central, quickly."

"Okay…" all of a sudden, the line filled with static. The interference had gone up again?

"Well hello there," a heavily accented voice came from the sandstorm. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing here?" A large and round reploid came hovering up to the door.

"I got lost," she lied. "And it's none of your business otherwise."

"Is that what you think? It might be, except that you're on private property right now and we can't take chances with trespassers." He took her hand and smiled at her with a sickening attraction. "But I might let things slip if you come over to my quarters and explain."

She snatched her hand back, disgusted. "Hey, I'm a married woman," she declared. "And I could defeat you."

"Oh really? I have other ideas about that." He then emitted a loud screeching sound that was so awful, Sunbee didn't notice when exactly she'd been knocked unconscious.


	24. Block Transmissions!  part 1

X's squad was meeting in the command room again, minus one member. Marino had even been surprised how it affected her. It was odd. She hadn't thought there was anything really worth dying for. Maybe if Palei was in trouble. But even then, she'd do her best to get out of trouble alive as much as possible. She thought other people felt that way and that stories of such sacrifices were abnormalities. But having witnessed one herself, perhaps some things might be worth such a high cost.

Still, it was sobering to have him gone now. He had been an odd one, yes, and she's always had a suspicion that he was just in it for the money. But he had been friendly, always with some joke or snarky comment on hand. It felt bad to be downplaying him now.

"Our next objective is to go into Vanallia Desert and stop the interference that the Rebellion is broadcasting," Chief R said. "Now that we've regained much of the city and stopped their ability to send daily attacks, this is a prime time to do so. With communications back, we can request help from the global government, giving them proofs of what the Rebellion has done and what we have done to work against them. Also, our three friends in the Maverick Hunters need to get back in contact with their organization."

"It's been touchy so far," X said. "They should be aware that we're here now and some of the situation, but clearer communications is vital now." He seemed a bit skeptical about it, though.

R nodded. "For good news, we do have an accurate map to give you of how the sector currently looks. However, the two Resistance officers we sent in, Kratos and Yellow Sunbee, have not returned or reported back in for twelve hours. Sunbee gave us the last transmissions, including that there is an underground network that seems to hold the actual machinery for the interference broadcast. While the main door is locked, it can be accessed by going through a sand pit."

"That does not sound pleasant," Marino stated. "Letting a pit of sand swallow you whole?"

"Well if that's the only way we have in, I guess we have to do it," Cinnamon said. "So what about Kratos and Sunbee?"

"Do be careful to make sure that you don't have any armor cracks or such that could get sand in the wrong places," R said. "As for our two peers, Kratos was the one who got inside. Sunbee stayed above ground to keep in communications, and they had planned on leaving once they found a way to get him out. At best, they're in hiding. But more likely, they could be captured or dead. So along with stopping the interference, I would like for you to find out what happened to those two and help them out if you come across them. Fortunately, X is a capable enough engineer that you don't need to risk taking noncombat personnel with you in order to shut down the interference properly. I trust that you can assess the situation properly once you're there."

X nodded. "Yes sir. And if any of you don't have eye shields with your helmet, we need to get you some shield goggles immediately."

* * *

 

Billions of grains of sand rushed through the air in ceaseless motion. The tiny particles caused minor irritation to a reploid's skin, but a constant one at that. It got into any crack or seam in armor, forcing a very thorough cleaning after one had been through the upper portion. With all the sand in the air, visibility was cut to a mere foot; any other senses were often muddled due to all the particles flying about. And it was so hot all the time, a constant unending one hundred plus degree day with no night in sight.

Ferham hadn't been here more than five minutes and she had already decided that this was her second most hated part of Giga City.

Sure, the forest district was tough to fly through, but it had much nicer weather and the challenge was invigorating rather than infuriating. And Ulfat was often hotter and fully enclosed, but the rooms were at least large. She was supposed to dislike Central Tower and the human suburbs at Freesia on principle, but that didn't cause much more than apathy from her. No, with the heat and the sand above ground, and the small and narrow passages underground, Vanallia was only second to Lagrano in places she did not want to be. And that hated tower was gone now.

She'd tried to get out of this assignment. But the current situation the Rebellion found themselves in meant that she was best to come here. She wanted to call it unthinkable that they were getting cut down so badly. But that was a truth they could not afford to ignore. Of their remaining skilled reploids, Luna Narwhale was completely unsuited for this place. Scarface would have great difficulty in navigating the sandstorm and sand dunes, which counted double for Epsilon. Also, due to the unusual requirements of his power system and body configuration, Epsilon would be at high risk of sudden death if enough loose sand got in and jammed up his systems. So that left to their one remaining flier, Ferham, to deal with this.

And the problem she was dealing with? The Resistance squad under X was suspected to come raid Botos' satellite jamming facility. True, the other two districts were vital to their plans, and Vanallia was primarily keeping the Resistance from seeking outside help. But Epsilon deduced that this was their prime target now. Scarface was watching over Melda with Luna, and their leader had called the unskilled fighters to their headquarters, then locked down the Freesia distinct so that no one else could access it for a time.

"Hey angel," Botos' voice came over the radio, "it seems that our guests have arrived. Why don't you go on over and welcome them here?"

She scowled. She did not like Botos, especially with how he eyed her, and called her names like that. True, she wouldn't mind it from any man but Botos (and possibly Silver Horn, but he was dead now, thank God). "Right, but you're going to pay for using that tone with me."

"Are you going to make me suffer for it?" he asked, almost mockingly.

"No, that would be too nice of me," she retorted. "I have something in mind that you definitely won't like. I'm off to find those Resistance fellows."

Actually, she had something much better in mind. While the door was locked to the main entrance to the control base, there was one other entrance. Ferham flew to that place, made up of a sand pit formed by a malfunctioning system trying to keep the sand out. All she had to do was coast around here and they would come to her. When they did, she had some surprises for them.

This would be such fun. Almost enough to make up for having to deal with Botos.

* * *

 

One thing that made teleporting a worse option sometimes was that one didn't gradually enter a harsh environment. No, when teleporting, one was tossed directly into the harsh environment, usually from a nice climate controlled facility. Axl winced as his body was suddenly buffeted with hot sandy winds. It was a good thing, he thought, that his eye shield had been upgraded to fully encase around his eyes. He had a feeling that sand would get underneath his old eye shield quickly.

Right near the teleporting pad was a small steel tower with a satellite dish on top. Large thick cables headed off to the northeast. Surprisingly, none of it seemed to be affected more than cosmetically by the constant sand erosion.

" _So that's what's jamming the signals?"_ Zero asked over transmission. None of them dared actually speak in this place and get a taste of the sand in exchange. But even X's private line was getting affected by the interference here.

" _One of a network of similar towers,"_ X replied. _"Massimo, how are you faring with the sand dunes?"_

" _Not too bad_ ," he replied. " _I do have a large foot surface, so that counters the weight of my armor."_

X smiled at that response. " _Good, as I thought. But better to check. Okay, Axl, Cinnamon, Marino, you three can move quickly over the desert sand, so I want you to check out some points on the desert surface. Based on the recent maps, these are places I think Sunbee might hide if she felt threatened. Also, I'm sending you her picture, in case you don't know her. I suspect that she will refuse to leave without her husband, so make the offer to send her back to Central, but if she insists, I'm fine with bringing her along."_

" _Wait, those two are married?"_ Cinnamon asked.

He nodded. " _Yes, and they're both good fighters, so they shouldn't drag us down too much. If she's not in any of those locations, head to the sand pit to enter the building. Massimo, Zero, the three of us are going straight inside from the sand pit. It's something of a long trek from that entrance to the elevator, according to what reports we got, but we'll need to get there to access anywhere useful."_

" _No big deal,"_ Mssimo replied.

" _Also, all of you take note: there are a great many heavily armored foes in this district. About the only thing guns will be useful on around here would be an aggressive type of bat that is uncommon for this area. But that's for what's normally here. We know that the Rebellion brought in a number of Preons, but there may be other mechaniloids not native to this district. Keep this in mind for your tactics."_

Axl nodded, figuring that X may have meant that mostly for him. As he was in charge of the secondary squad and relied on his pistols in most cases, the girls might be doing more damage than him. It was going to be tough, but he could do it.

" _And no flirting,"_ Zero said. _"We can hear you."_

" _What?"_ Axl asked.

" _Huh?"_ Cinnamon added.

Marino rolled her eyes. " _Oh darn. Well let's go."_

" _Right, if there's no questions, let's head out,"_ X said.

Several minutes later, Axl, Marino, and Cinnamon were racing across the desert in search of the Resistance member Yellow Sunbee. The two girls seemed to be having no difficulty keeping up. They had checked out two of the five spots and found no one around. Axl was relying on an electrical sensor to check the places out, which revealed a great many of the thick cables spreading across the desert. But no reploid, not yet.

There was something odd. On reaching the third point (and not seeing anyone immediately), Axl paused and queried X _, "Hey, have you guys run into any mechaniloids yet? We've only had this dead mantor so far."_

" _No, it's quiet,"_ X said. _"That has me suspicious."_

" _Could we be running into another trap?"_ Cinnamon asked, while looking around the large shell of the mantor.

" _It's possible. Keep alert."_

" _Something's ahead of us, X,"_ Zero said.

* * *

 

X, Zero, and Massimo made their way for the sand pit entrance. As Zero had noted, there was some shadow moving in the distance, but the sand storm was obscuring what exactly it was. X would have really appreciated a full and recent scan of this area, but that was improbable. He held his hand partly up, having them slow as they approached. As they did, more figures started approaching from the sides. Someone knew they were there.

So he sent a general broadcast out. "Who's out there?"

"Just a little bird," came a reply from someone tagged as Ferham.

"Yeah right," Zero radioed, activating his sword. "You're one of the Rebellion leaders. Show yourself." His eyes were scanning the air above them.

Her reply was, "I would gladly do so, but I don't control this little storm going on. Such a pity. But, I'm still not letting you get any further. My dears, after them."

At that point, three Glob mechaniloids appeared in the sands, one red, one blue, and one yellow. They each sent burst of energy at them, but different sorts. Massimo decided that since the blue glob was closest to him, he'd attack that one until X told him otherwise. He thrust his lance through the creature, but its body seemed to be made up of liquid; his weapon passed right through without much resistance.

The other two seemed to be going after the other Globs, so Massimo focused on this water one. Perhaps he could try aiming for one of its inner part, as they could not be hidden. One that seemed like a spiked ball attached to a metal coil disc seemed important. But it shifted that part away, moving others with it.

One did not move, though. Massimo aimed for that one, smashing through it with his lance. With the liquid (which didn't seem to be exactly water) was no longer supported, it all splashed onto the sand below. The Glob's structure soon stiffened into uselessness.

" _Nice work, Massimo_ ," X told him over a private transmission. Then he switched to their group's line. _"Axl, how many areas do you have to check out left?"_

" _Two, we're close to one of them,"_ he replied.

" _Well check those out, but then get to our point, south west of the pit entrance. We've been jumped by a Rebellion leader, Ferham, with an unknown number of Globs. Massimo, get that fire one over there. Axl, I had a feeling you hadn't heard our radio exchange."_

" _No, we just heard lots of static over the line,"_ he replied. " _We can't rush too much or we might miss her. But we'll be there as soon as we can."_

" _I know."_

An unknown number? He had been focused on the water one, so the two Hunters had probably seen some cues he had missed. At any rate, Massimo met up with the Fire Glob that X pointed out. This one was shooting fire at one of its red peers, one Zero was rapidly approaching. If he recalled his mentor's words right, that was actually empowering the other. So Massimo aimed his lance through the piece of machinery that had taken down the Liquid Glob. That worked too, extinguishing the fires and causing the structure to be unworkable.

"You're doing that all too quickly." On the edge of his vision, he saw a winged shadow hovering there. "Let's make this more fun, shall we?" Then a flash of blue light appeared.

Massimo tried to face her, but then the light took on dimensions like some kind of whip and struck blindingly at his chest. He felt a brief flush of electric energy before the armor shifted to absorb as much of the attack as it could. While that kept him safe, he soon got the message, 'Movement motors have taken excessive damage. Activating back up escape function. Do not reuse armor until functionality is restored.' The gloves opened up to release his hands, although it also dropped his lance.

He had not practiced for this, or had even expected it. Still, the back hinges were opening up, so Butler pulled himself out as quickly as he could manage. _"My armor's immobile now,"_ he said, dropping down to behind it. He brought his hands up to cover his eyes until his personal eye shield was up. Then he looked to see where Ferham was.

" _Do what you can,"_ X told hm. _"Fight defensively if you must."_

Not seeing her immediately, Butler darted around the Massimo armor and grabbed the lance. He could still fight like this. Couldn't he? Then he saw a flash of blue light as Ferham readied her whip once more. Butler ran off to the side to avoid that strike of the whip, but then heard an Electric Glob jump to just behind him and charge up some attack. At the same time, Ferham started her attack.

Briefly, Butler saw Zero rushing by, after Ferham. But at the last moment, he moved aside, getting into the path of the strange whip. It latched onto his lower arm, sparking. He tried to pull the whip out of her hands, but struggled against the same energy surge that had stopped the Massimo armor.

Butler didn't like leaving someone to suffer. But then, there was that Electric Glob just beside him still charging its attack. He turned and aimed for that same part. On his own, he couldn't put enough power into the lance to fully destroy it in one blow. But he could stop it from charging, and then strike again to further disrupt the Glob.

There was a loud blast behind him. Zero fired his Z-buster at Ferham, using the taunt whip as something to aim by. "Give it up, woman," Zero said over the public line. "It's just you and a bunch of mechaniloids; we can take you out easily."

"Oh really? You expect such big words from a tough guy to faze me?" she replied, almost playfully. "No, I think I'd rather see how much more of this you can take. You look cute when you're trying so hard." There was another snap of the whip.

But Butler wasn't looking in that direction. Facing him, he had the Electric Glob and now another Fire Glob to contend with. He struck the internal machinery a third time, finally disrupting the electricity enough to stop the Glob in its tracks. Then the love metal in his arm slot alerted him, getting him to step out of a blast of fire from the red one. He could have taken that hit easily in the armor, but there was a good chance he couldn't now.

He caught occasional glimpses of Zero. Oddly, he didn't seem to be taking on Ferham directly, mostly using his buster. Was he trying to keep her attention off him? Butler wasn't sure, but he focused on defeating the Fire Glob before finding out what Zero was up to.

After defeating that one, he heard another buster firing nearby. X appeared, shooting towards the light source of Ferham's whip. Butler got ready to help, noticing that Zero was moving sluggishly. Before either of them could help, Ferham struck Zero again, this time knocking him onto the ground. "Hmph, ganging up on a lady, are you? Don't get too careless; I'm watching you."

And then there was quiet. Had she flown away or was she just waiting to spring another surprise attack? Whatever it was, Butler went over to Zero, just as X did. He didn't know much about repairing others, but he could at least stand upwind of where X was, keeping some sand from blowing in front of his face while he checked his friend.

" _Zero, do you read me?"_ X asked over the team line.

" _Yeah, I'm still active,"_ Zero replied. _"Judging from how it's worse than paralysis nanites, I'd say that she has an electro-magnetic whip. I can't move a dang thing."_

" _What happened?"_ Axl called over the line. " _We're at our last spot."_

" _Ferham seems to have retreated,"_ X said. _"But as you heard, Zero's down for a bit, and Butler is without his armor. Do you want to stay on like that?"_

He nodded. " _Yeah; it'll be tougher, but I can fight like this."_

" _All right, thanks. Axl, we'll be heading on down. Join us when you can."_ Then X switched to a private message. _"Do you think you can pick him up?"_

" _I'll give it a try."_ Butler picked up Zero around his torso and lifted him above his shoulder. That was more weight than he would usually carry around outside of the armor, but he followed X over to the sand pit. It was better to have the long range fighter with free hands out here.

The pit turned out to be something like an over full funnel in the sand. There was no obvious hole, but all the sand was draining away somewhere. Nearby, a geyser burst of sand came up from the pit's edge. X looked over the formation. _"It seems like this should be a hidden entrance, but in this desert setting, the sand falls into the doorway and must be ejected out. It's probably malfunctioning too, stuck on open."_

" _And that means?"_ Marino said, adding a teasing symbol to the end.

" _Cover your faces as much as possible,"_ X said. " _Zero, can you activate your full face shield?"_ A green shield extended from over X's eyes to encompass his whole face.

After a moment, Zero said, " _I got that to work, at least."_

Butler adjusted his hold on Zero a moment to put his hand over his nose and mouth. Unfortunately, this was the best he could manage in his civilian form. He followed X down into the sand pit. It was a peculiar feeling: the sand was an unstable surface, shifting and sliding, but right over the center of the pit, the ground gave out. Butler sank down into the sand and was momentarily swallowed up by it. But then even the faint resistance of the falling sand disappeared to thin air as he dropped down into a room. Due to the extra weight on his shoulder, he landed a little hard but stayed on his feet.

He moved out from under the sand and got to the relatively cleaner side of the room. Several mechaniloids worked hard trying to vacuum up the incoming sand and stuff it into pipes that shot off the geyser they had seen above ground. Away from the sand fall, Butler put Zero down with his back against the wall. The Hunter opened his eyes, then blinked them rapidly a few times, trying to stir the rest of his motion capacity back into use.

"What kind of error message did you get for the armor?" X asked.

"That the motion motors had taken up excessive damage," he replied. "It had to activate a back up system to release me before I got trapped in a completely immobile suit. I won't be able to use it until it gets repaired."

"Ah." The blue Hunter put his hand to his chin. "It's good there was a safety mechanism like that in place. Hopefully we can get this district under our control. From there, we should be able to manipulate the environment system, even just to tone down the sandstorm, so that we can get back to the armor easier."

" _Can you get a paralyze heal for me?"_ Zero asked. _"Even if this isn't nanites, I think that would help."_

"No, that's geared to destroying the paralysis nanites," X pointed out. "I can give you some energy from the e-tanks; this should accelerate your self healing." He knelt down to do that.

Two minutes later, Zero was able to sit back up and speak some. "Give me another minute and we can start getting through this place."

"Will you be at full capacity?" X asked.

He shook his head. "I'll get there, but this lower portion is a maze, right? You take point and you should be able to get anything approaching."

"Unless it's one of the heavy armor ones. But all right."

"Hey, thanks for defending me up there," Butler said, while there wasn't any danger to interrupt. "I wasn't expecting you to do that."

Zero shrugged. "I'm not about to let another squad member get killed here," he replied. "And you surprised me in taking out those two Globs on your own without that armor. For not being designed for this, you're pretty good."

"I've done my best to learn," Butler said, then looked at his arm. "And I do still have some of the Force Metals on."

Then Marino dropped in, followed by Cinnamon and Axl. "We couldn't find the girl," Marino said, brushing her hand through her hair to get some sand out.

X looked worried about that. "I see. Well our next problem is, we have a maze and the map of it is incomplete. I've got the most likely path to an elevator plotted out, so let's hurry. I'm hoping that there's a security center somewhere where we can locate them."

* * *

 

As much as she had wandered all over Giga City, Marino had never been to Vanallia before. Part of that was because as a testing ground, it wouldn't have many treasures to steal. The rest of it was that even if there were, the sandstorm was too much of a hassle to deal with. Then again, she hadn't known about this underground portion. While they were trying to find their way through the maze, Marino kept an eye out for any valuables. Technically, she wasn't supposed to do that. Maybe if she informed X of what she'd found?

Though she was supposed to be trying to keep her mind off that. It was hard; it often reminded her of something bad, but there was always that thrill...

She felt a tug at her arm. Cinnamon was there. At the previous path crossing, they had split up to find the elevator faster. Somehow, she was trusted with Cinnamon. "Marino, do you know what this is?" she asked, holding out a glass vial.

"This thing?" She took it briefly to look it over. It was a glass tube like one would expect out of a chemistry set. But instead of a cork, there was a small mechanical filter on the end. Inside, there was a blue liquid that made the vial feel cold. "I'd say you've got some cyber liquid in a Glob purity tester." She handed it back.

"Glob purity tester?"

Marino nodded. "It's something they put inside those Glob monsters to draw samples of their fluids, which makes sure that their filter systems are working properly. This one came from a Liquid Glob."

Cinnamon looked at it, then put it back in her pocket. "Oh, okay. It was the thing I nearly tripped on in the sands. It looked kind of pretty, so I picked it up to look at later. I don't know what to do with it now, though."

After thinking on it, she shrugged. "Whatever you want, I guess. It might work with the generator. Although, I think Palei was looking for a sample of that stuff for one of her projects. She might be able to make some more stuff like that for you to experiment with."

She brightened. "Oh yeah, then I could make new metals. I'll talk with her later, then. Thanks, Marino! You're a good friend."

Marino chuckled and patted her should. "You too, kiddo. But we should head back to the others; this is a dead end."

"Right."


	25. Block Transmissions!  part 2

When they finally found the elevator, it turned out to be a small one. But it also had an official map of the underground rooms. X looked over the map while waiting on Zero and Axl to get to them. This level, unsurprisingly, was listed as 'Variable Indoors Combat Test Chambers'. B3 was 'General Offices', B2 was 'Securities and Bunks', and B1 was 'Observation and Control Room'.

However, B1 was not available on the elevator's control panel. The Securities area was likely where he wanted to be looking; given the name, Marino could be of some help. Zero could clear the Offices floor, but X wanted him working with the others (to help undo the damage done by Shadow's betrayal). But of the ones left, Cinnamon was still a bit of a liability and Butler wouldn't be fighting as strongly as usual. X didn't want to put Zero with both of them.

The last two came in, so X turned to the group. "Okay, we have two levels available to us. Butler, Marino, you two are coming with me to Basement Level 2. Zero, you, Axl, and Cinnamon should clear out Basement Level 3 and see what's around there. According to the map in there, the controls we're looking for are either on level 2 or 1, but we shouldn't leave 3 out in case our peers are there."

Zero nodded. "Right, we'll get that covered."

At B2, X's group found a room with four hallways. The south door led to an elevator that would bring them to the sandstorm level; that door was locked, however. The other three doors would lead to a long set of three halls which led between four rooms. Wanting to do this in a reasonable order, X led Butler and Marino to the southwest room. From there, they could check on the rooms in a clockwise order.

But all they found in that southwest room was a fight against two Elite Preons. One was a green model equipped with two guns, while the other was tall and red, with a short blade. "Intruders will fall," the green one said as the red one dashed forward to attack.

* * *

 

Basement Level 3 was constructed of four rooms connected by four halls around the elevator shaft room. In the southwest room, they had fought an Elite Preon with a large shield and a black Elite with a long blade. And the black one could jump extremely high, touching the eight-foot ceiling and crashing down onto them with its green blade. Cinnamon had felt momentarily spooked when it jumped at her the first time, especially since Zero and Axl were off trying to deal with the shielded one.

But, she had to hold her own too. She moved to the side, then punched the Preon in the head as it was landing. It crashed onto its side, stunned by the bad landing. And in her contact with it, she had felt that its metal surface was cold, unlike the warm air around them. So she pulled out a Giga Lightning capsule she'd bought; lightning usually defeated cold elementals, right? She set it to blow, then jumped back as a blast of electricity struck the fallen Preon. It spasmed when the capsule went off; something cracked and it shut down.

By then, the other one was down too. "Nice work Cinnamon!" Axl said to her.

She smiled bashfully. "Um, thanks."

"Doesn't look like anything useful is in here," Zero said. "Let's go north."

While the hallway heading north was empty, the next room was not. There were eight Preons in here, a mix of types including three of the black jumpers. Back on the far wall, there was a strange arrangement of switches, wires, and electrical boxes. "Intruders die!" a number of them yelled, readying their weapons.

Zero held his hand up, getting Axl to put his hand on Cinnamon's shoulder and hold her back in the doorway. Then the blond Hunter dashed into the room, slashed at the nearest jumper, turned and kicked at one of the red ones dashing at him, turned around again to finish off the first jumper, then smoothly went into attacking a third. In this manner, he preceded to clear the whole room without pausing once.

Cinnamon put her hands up near her mouth. "Wow," she said softly. She wouldn't have thought that was even possible, but Zero seemed like he could have taken on many times this number without effort.

Near her, Axl grinned. "It's always cool when he does stuff like that," he whispered. When the last one had fallen, he spoke up, "I guess you feel better now?"

Zero rubbed the back of his neck. "Not quite," he said, turning to them. In that moment, Cinnamon saw a shimmer of a thin reflection near the floor. "But I don't want to waste time with prisoners about. What's this arrangement for, you think?"

The younger Hunter went up to investigate. "Well…"

" _Zero, we've encountered a problem in the northwest room,"_ X informed them over the com. " _We've found a computer station, but it's shielded by an electromagnetic field. The controls should be in the northwest room of your level."_

"That explains that," he muttered, turning back to the wall and going towards it. " _Yes, we've got a mass of switches and wires here. Where along the wall is the shield generator? There's several wires going up there."_

While the two of them were doing that, Cinnamon looked around. This area was quiet, for now. Then she went into the room and saw that thin reflection again, on the floor. She knelt down and picked up a long blond hair. But, it was much longer than any of hers would be. It must have been Zero's, which would explain what she briefly saw. She wondered about something; she had a theory of her own, but had never had the chance to test it. And she wanted to be friends with Zero, so maybe if she helped him…

Cinnamon carefully wrapped the hair around her fingers, then tied it up with itself. Then she tucked it into her pocket. Later, she'd try it out.

* * *

 

X had been able to shut down about half of the interference signals from that console, so he, Marino, and Butler continued to clear out the B2 level. There hadn't been much useful in the northeast room, just a battle. But in the southeast room, they came upon a larger version of the energy field that had blocked them before. Behind that was a male reploid, an average-sized humanoid model with spiky red hair pointing out of his pale blue helmet. It seemed he had been roughed up, but not to the extent of the beatings from Silver Horn.

"Kratos!" X called out, going over to the field. "How are you doing?"

He looked up, hopeful. "X?" He smiled, but only briefly. "Where's Sunbee? Our last communication got cut off."

"She seems to have been captured too, but we haven't located her yet," he said.

"Oh." He pounded his fist into the floor. "The lower level is rough, with all those armored turtles and wolfoids. It was a bit much for me alone; I haven't fought by myself in so long… I'll be all right, but please let me come look for her too."

He nodded, but was looking over the back wall. "Right. We have to get in contact with our other group in order to get this field neutralized. Marino, can you go over to that side and figure out what circuits are doing what?"

"Looks simple enough," she said, going over to study the wires.

X turned back to him. "Butler, stay in the doorway and keep anything out while we're doing this."

He nodded. "Sure, I'll do that." He went back and stood there. The hall looked empty.

Still, he didn't have his usual armor. Butler clenched his lance, feeling vulnerable again. He had gotten used to it; he was always protected and never came back with bad injuries. That protection was gone now. At least the love metal was still with him. It had already changed its focus from increasing his reflexes so he could counter to increasing them so he could dodge. There was also the thought that if he did have the Massimo armor, he might not have been able to get into these halls, or even the elevator.

His teammates were talking to each other now. " _There seems to be a weapon in the field cell that could damage him,"_ X noted. " _We'll have to be careful with unlocking it so that we don't hurt him."_

" _Axl, you handle it then,"_ Zero said.

" _All right."_

" _I can help,"_ Cinnamon offered.

" _Right."_ X and Marino started to go into descriptions of what wires were where, with Axl and Cinnamon checking back before they moved switches and boxes on the wall.

* * *

 

Kratos seemed to be in some pain, but he ignored it and kept up with them as they went back to the elevator shaft. Zero's group had gotten to it first. " _The first level is opened up now,"_ Zero reported. " _We'll head up there, but hang back until you come."_

" _Good."_ He looked to Kratos, who didn't have the key to their line. "There's just one more level we have to search in this place supposedly. Hopefully she'll be up there, but there will probably be a Rebellion member around too."

He nodded. "Yeah. I'll hold out as long as I can."

When they got up to B1, the other three were waiting. Cinnamon went over to Kratos to see if she could heal him any more. " _Someone's in there,"_ Zero said. " _There hasn't been a response, but they must know that we're here."_

X nodded. " _Right, let's take care."_ He led them into the next room.

* * *

 

Zero felt peculiar. Ever since he'd arrived on level B1 of this place, he had a nagging feeling of something being out of place. Looking around the short hall, he saw the crack of light beyond the next door and felt certain he heard hover jets of some kind behind them. But that didn't seem to be it. There weren't any hidden weapons or traps that he could sense; unusual for a Maverick hideout, but perfectly normal for a testing facility of its caliber. Nothing seemed to have changed about Axl or Cinnamon, or even himself. Yet he still felt like there was something here that shouldn't be.

Something possibly dangerous.

On that thought, he scanned through his senses again. All possibilities, like volatile chemical smells, electrical activity, viral energy from without and within… nothing dangerous came up that he could sense. Unless… it was like the energy that the force metal explosion had released, but diluted. Had one recently been destroyed here and he was feeling its aftereffects?

No, there was one other time when he had felt something like this, exactly like this. It wasn't quite as strong, but he had felt it at the top of Lagrano Tower. And during that fight, it had affected him.

…

Zero readily ducked under Shadow's heavier blade and attempted to disable his sword arm. To think that he had nearly trusted this traitor into bringing him closer… but something wasn't right. That weird feeling he had just a minute ago had sharply increased. And it was making him feel so sluggish, as if this fight was harder than it should be. It was a difficult one with so many foes, he would admit that to himself. But this was like his own body was working against him.

…

Of course, once Epsilon had struck him and X, they had lost any chance at winning. And after that, he had other things to think about that were more important to him than why he had been so off during that one battle. Now that he encountered that feeling again, Zero felt like he should have questioned it.

But there wasn't time now. They went through the door (X first, checking for traps) and into a much larger room than the rest of this facility had. From the array of computer stations on the walls, as well as large screens showing the desert sandstorm outside, this was definitely the observation and control room. The insectoid girl Yellow Sunbee was tied down to one of those stations by a large chain and a binding on her wings. Although it was a work space, much of the furnishings that should be here had been removed, leaving a nice open room for a battle field.

Also in the room was the one who wanted the battle. Zero recognized him from the mission files, one of the three Cadres that made up the Rebellion members directly under Epsilon. Quite frankly, Botos looked ridiculous, a spherical 'man' with normal sized limbs, a dome head, and a large tuning fork on his back which was attached to amplifiers. But Zero knew that just because a reploid looked ridiculous, it didn't mean he (or she) was slacker in battle. His high level position spoke for itself.

And he laughed at them in amusement. "Well, well, nicely done! Not only have you two recovered from almost certain death, but you've managed to get through this facility despite the extra weights you've been dragging along."

Nearby, Kratos was glaring at the Cadre, but Axl had his hand on the guy's shoulder as a warning. They had just rescued him. Even if it was his wife at the other end of the room, they didn't want him charging ahead recklessly and getting killed for it.

"This place was a cakewalk," Zero retorted in the guy's place.

"Well that's gonna end here," Botos bragged, showing off a force metal that was in his right hand. Although it was shaped like any that one could buy at a store, this metal had had a high refraction, causing it to sparkle in many colors like a well-cut diamond. "This is just a small piece of the ultimate supra-force metal." He then placed it onto a slot on his chest, where it starting shining once it connected to him. "But with its power, I'm stronger than any dumb shmuck you've ever faced before." He fired a white shot at them.

Zero deflected it with his rapier, though. Near him, X firmly stated, "I doubt that." He then gave a hand movement for Zero and Axl to move ahead to make the first attacks while he was dealing out orders to the rest.

Dashing ahead, Zero heard as Axl fired close to him. He didn't worry about getting friendly fire from him. Turning some, Zero made to ram into Botos with his shoulder then strike with his rapier. But Botos moved, making him strike without the ram. Too slow… why was he moving so slow? Then there was a blur as the Cadre formed two illusionary copies of himself. The three then began bounding around the room. Zero carefully watched the one that had been in the center, the real one.

The others were attacking now, but uncertain of which one to go for. Apparently with spoken orders from X, Kratos went to strike one of the illusions with his discus weapon, only to make it vanish. Two mechaniloid bots appeared in its place, both attacking him at once.

" _Marino, take Cinnamon with you to Sunbee and get her free,"_ X ordered. " _If she's up to battle, let her._ _Butler, you come with me and we'll work to keep Botos' attention away from them. Zero, do you know the real one?"_

" _I'm watching him,"_ he replied. He was just waiting for him to slow down.

" _Then you focus your attacks on him. Axl, you take out those little bots and tell Kratos to follow Zero's lead; looks like those things dodge combat strikes."_

The real Botos had finally stopped to observe the actions. Zero dashed over to him; but it was like dashing through water, with more resistance forcing him to slow down. Great, this was being a repeat of Lagrano Tower… he did not want this to turn into a repeat of that battle. He plotted out a move combo that should stun him, making him an easier target for Kratos and anyone else. It started off with a jumping somersault to strike with momentum and power…

Somehow, he miscalculated and ended up not only slashing Botos, but crashing head to head against him. It did succeed in forcing him into the wall, disrupting his hover jets. Zero recovered and went to slash horizontally at the fallen reploid. But his body was feeling heavier than it should be, and his strike not as powerful. And slow. What the hell was going on with him?

Then Kratos sent one of his spiked disks into Botos. Zero saw it coming and was going to move a step away. He still nearly got hit with it. However, the Resistance fighter didn't seem to be affected by whatever had Zero like this.

Then he got a personal message from X. " _Zero, what's wrong with you?"_

" _I don't know. Something's got me off-kilter."_

The next message came over the group line, much to Zero's chagrin. _"Zero, stand down. Axl, keep track of Botos. Butler, be careful but…"_

Then Botos set his turning fork to vibrate, sending a two-toned screech through his amplifiers. The two sounds were offset just enough to make Zero wince at the horrid discord; it made his internal mechanisms vibrate unsettlingly. And it disrupted even X's secured line, cutting off his instructions.

But X was right. As much as he disliked it, Zero was getting sloppy due to that feeling he couldn't explain. The safer option for everyone was for him to back off into a corner and stay out of the way. Putting a clamp on any feelings of shame, he dashed along the wall to a nearby workstation. He nearly tripped over the chair, then stepped around it and turned to watch the battle. If he couldn't participate actively, then he would make the attempt to offer support for the others by watching the whole scene. But with his body feeling heavy, he dropped down to sit on the ground.

After a moment, he felt further confused. It seemed as though everyone was moving slower than usual. Even Butler, minus the Massimo armor, seemed to be fighting slower than he should be. But not one of them seemed to be affected by it like Zero was. Kratos was obviously enraged and fighting Botos fiercely, yet Zero could see every little motion of his discus fighting style. The particular moments he tightened, loosened, or let go of his grip… and how his style could be made more efficient with a few small alterations. He could see that about Butler too, even though Zero had never used a lance himself. If these were representative of the Resistance, then they were quite good, but could be better.

He glanced over along the wall (his head moving slowly too), to where the girls were. Marino had already gotten the chain off Sunbee and was carefully removing the bindings. Nearby, Cinnamon was prepping a small bomb, which she then tossed at another illusionary copy. She had a good throw; the bomb went off directly under the copy, damaging the two bots in the process. Not enough to defeat them, but then X was able to take both out in one shot. Botos just called up two more copies and a pair of free-floating bots. Then he started firing wildly all around the room.

While the others dealt with that, Marino had Sunbee free. She seemed conscious, saying something to her. After nodding, Marino swapped places with Cinnamon, who then healed Sunbee. The bee girl summoned up a small swarm of bee drones and sent them after a bot that was shooting energy rings at them.

Then, Zero spotted something about the other drone, a particular green part hanging at its side. _"Butler, that bot by you has an e-tank,"_ he said.

" _Focus on taking that one out quickly,"_ X ordered. Another screech filled the line with static.

It probably blocked up advice on hitting a dodging enemy, Zero thought in irritation. Across the room, Butler turned and was going to use that momentum in his lance strike. Was he fighting differently than he did with the suit? More defensively, obviously, but that strike didn't seem the same. However, the bot slipped out of the way.

Then, the screech and the static were gone. " _Just grab its ring and smash it against the wall,"_ Zero recommended.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the three girls were moving towards him. Marino and Sunbee acted as a guard to Cinnamon who came over to him. Again, they were moving slowly. He could watch as Butler tried a strike again, but then managed to turn it into a feint so that he could grab the bot and do as Zero had suggested. The hit against the wall rattled it greatly, enough to drop it to the floor. Butler put his lance through it to make sure that it wouldn't try healing Botos or his bots.

Cinnamon was then kneeling by him. "Is it okay to work on you now?" she asked softly.

Zero nodded. "It should be fine," he said quietly. She gave a small smile and put her hands on him.

Across the room, X's armor had shifted colors to a crystalline violet and gold. His buster arm glowed, then flames sprouted beneath Botos, the two illusions (destroying them both), and another loose bot that the Cadre had summoned. That was probably a ploy to get Botos to pay attention to him rather than the group near Zero. It worked a little too well as Botos turned to him and started charging something.

All of a sudden, everything became sharp and detailed. He felt a warm presence as Cinnamon's power touched him. It had a taste like calmness and vanilla (which puzzled Zero). She used a good amount of energy that felt like what it was to charge a buster gun, only for something else. And her power core must have been running high off battle stress, which was expected except for how well Zero sensed it. And there were all the colors of the three girls near him; he found himself unable to watch what was going on past them.

Then Cinnamon withdrew her powers; the sensory blast died off, leaving Zero feeling dazed and drained. He felt like he wasn't getting enough power. But when he checked, nothing seemed obviously wrong.

She had an explanation for it, though. " _X, the only thing wrong with Zero is that his perception is running abnormally fast,"_ she explained. " _It's throwing off anything he does, and I'm afraid I somehow worsened it when I tried healing him."_

" _Okay, I know what's going on then,"_ X replied. " _You two stay over there and keep anything from attacking him, but tell Sunbee to take out the small bots. Her bees should hit them well."_

So there was a reason for this. His perception was abnormally fast… he knew that his mind could do that, on occasions. But the times it did that were when he was infused with viral energy. That energy would boost all of his systems, requiring his perception to jump a level too so that he could handle the increased speed and power. If his perception had jumped without the boosts, then that explained why he felt so sluggish. It wasn't that he was any slower or less powerful. It was that his senses were moving faster and everything only seemed slower. Still, it was enough to throw off his usual movement programs.

But then why had his perception jumped?

Zero looked back to the battle. Botos had struck X with some kind of attack, injuring him. But his friend was still working to keep the Cadre's attention on him while coordinating the team's efforts. Botos was indeed strong, due to what he called supra-force metal. Whatever that was, Zero knew that he already reacted badly with normal force metal. Something that was presumably stronger would affect him even more. Even if he wasn't the one equipping it?

Then he remembered. X and Gaudile had discussed about how the Zero virus and the force metals worked on the same principles, but in different ways. And an explosive metal had stirred his dormant virus, but did not empower him. What was probably happening here was that his subconscious mind sensed the SFM's power, assumed it was viral, and pushed up his perception to compensate for an expected infection. But it wasn't the same energy; it couldn't boost him without being equipped (and causing a lot of pain, most likely).

Zero tried to focus down, back to normal level. That could let him rejoin the fight properly. However, some safety mechanism kicked in, thinking that would do more harm than good. It wouldn't let him reset his perception level.

And… someone back at Lagrano Tower had to be using an SFM, as Zero had felt the same reaction. It could have been Botos. Or it could have been one of the others. They were all the best of the Rebellion, so they would have access to the best supplies. That meant that in future battles, Zero was going to find himself just as useless to do anything. It would take too long to train himself to fight in this state, not to mention that such retraining would make his regular fighting skills suffer.

Zero really did not like this place. It was working against him at every turn.

Now that his senses had calmed from Cinnamon's attempt at healing him, Zero watched the battle again. They were making progress; there was a Botos illusion, but the real deal had enough dents and scorches that it was easy to pick him out. He sent one of his charged attacks, a blast of strong sound waves, towards X and Butler. While X saw it in time, he moved just enough so that he took the brunt of the attack, not the unarmored Butler. This was too much, though; X got thrown to the floor, looking badly damaged.

As could be expected of a civilian volunteer fighter, Butler looked momentarily panicked when his leader fell. However, he used that to drop his defensive fighting in exchange for an aggressive lunge at Botos. His lance promptly smashed through one of the amplifier units. Botos just laughed, though, tossing him aside, then whirling over in their direction. After crashing into Marino, he grabbed Cinnamon.

Zero felt a sharp burst of anger; if only he could do something without hurting the other two! Then he saw when Cinnamon's gaze fell on the SFM and hardened with determination. She punched not at Botos, but sweeping across his chest in order to knock the metal out of place. It flew halfway across the room before hitting the floor, then skipped over to where X was getting back on his feet. When he dropped Cinnamon, Marino whirled around and slashed into his other amplifier unit, destroying it handily.

Although he was still off with his perception, Zero put his hands on the console and stood up too. That simple threat could be enough to push the limits of Botos' bravado.

"Ack, my metal!" Botos called. To Zero's ears, it sounded like false concern. False? "Noooo, I, um…. Bye!" There was a flash and he teleported away.

Both X and Axl looked concerned. Zero looked over the screens, wondering if there was a time bomb around. Even the others didn't entirely buy that. "Um, he just left?" Cinnamon asked, uncertain.

"He's up to something," Marino said, crossing her arms over her chest. "He's just going to leave us with a sample of their secret weapon?"

X brought out his handheld scanner and tossed it over to Axl. "Here, check that over for me. I'm a little woozy after that last attack."

"Oh," Cinnamon said, then ran over to help him.

"Kratos!" Sunbee flew over to him and hugged him. Before long, the two were caught up in their own little world, glad to be reunited. Nobody was about to deny them that moment, although Zero did watch in case of hidden weapons or foes. Folks like Botos would attack the couple right now.

Zero started walking towards the others; Marino glanced at him, then followed alongside. He still felt off and in a daze, but since that metal was no longer attached to anyone, the movement might help correct the perception error. "That thing has got to be potent," he said.

Crouched on the floor, Axl examined the handheld scanner, then nodded. "That it is. Yikes, if this thing is reading right, this metal would be a highly concentrated force metal. It's way out of normal range… and has an erosion factor of 112? I don't think any of us could resist that."

"We can't," X said, while Cinnamon was still focused on him. "Butler, if you'd remove your metals; you can keep the love one, though, it might help. Then pick that one up and store it in your pocket until we can get it in a proper container."

"All right," he said, taking off two. After a second's thought, he went over and handed them to Axl, who nodded and put them away for safe keeping.

"Um, X?" Cinnamon said, sounding worried. She dropped her hands to her sides. "I can't fix all the damage Botos dealt to you. You're going to have to stay in the repair bay for a little while."

He smiled sheepishly. "Fine, I trust your judgment. Let's get the communications restored between here and Central, then we'll head back. Great work, everyone."


	26. For the Sake of Friends

Even though he hadn't been badly damaged, Axl took a rest break after coming back from Vanallia. Part of it was to give himself a good scrubbing to get all the sand particles off. When he was ready, he went up to the Governor's Precinct to see if anything needed doing. X wasn't up there and Nana said that nothing worrisome was going on. So he'd come down to the 775 Plaza to relax a while longer.

It was a nice little spot, with a wall of windows showing the wide sky and ocean, with other artificial islands that held other parts of Giga City. In the center, there was a colorful laser light sculpture that was fascinating to watch. And there were plants here, a few mechanical, but mostly real. Axl sat on a bench that was near a short leafy bush that had showy clusters of tiny white flowers. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was pretty with a soft scent.

He looked over his arm, where he equipped his force metals. There was only one he had on now, the love metal that had come from Spider. It still seemed odd to him that it had accepted him so soon after its previous owner had died. Of course, he didn't know as much about these things as others did. Was it doing the same thing for him as it had for Spider? Now that he had been in battle, he could tell that it was focused on dodging attacks. But it also gave him a strange frequency burst attack that immediately drew the hostile attentions of any mechaniloid. Well, theoretically any. Getting attention like that was something one had to be careful with.

As there was no one else there at the time, he looked up when a door opened. One of his squad mates walked through, looking preoccupied. Axl sat up straighter and called over, "Hey Cinnamon. What's up?"

She looked momentarily startled, then smiled at him. "Oh, hi Axl. I'm just thinking about things. May I sit with you for a bit?"

He nodded and moved over. "Sure, I don't mind. Normally I'd be doing something for X, but he's not up yet. So I'm taking advantage of the quiet moment."

"Ah, yes." She sat down, still absorbed in her thoughts.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked softly. She wasn't her normal bubbly self, so that had him worried.

"Yes, but…" she put her hand to her lips, then looked to him. "Would you keep it quiet, please? It might not be anything big, but I'm worried…"

"Sure I can keep a secret," he said. He was expected to keep a number of secrets.

"Okay, well… I lied, back at Vanallia." She lowered her head. "I could have fixed what was wrong with X back there, but I didn't want to. See, I could tell that he was exhausted then, using his love metal to stave off the effects. Last time I saw him looking tired, I asked if he was getting enough rest and he said that he would get some sleep later. But I don't think that he had. I know he's doing a lot, but it's not good for him. When I helped him in the repair area, I had the on-duty nurse overload him with sleep nanites. He could be sleeping for another six hours. But he needed it. I was just worried that he'd be mad at me."

On thinking of that, Axl laughed. Cinnamon tensed, so he patted her. "No, no, it's all right. Actually, it's better than that. That's awesome, Cinnamon."

She gave him a puzzled look. "Huh?"

"He overworks himself a lot," he explained. "So it's normal, except maybe in that his love metal gives him an excuse to keep going. He should forgive you of that if you tell him why. But what's awesome is that you managed to trick X. I mean, nobody back at base can fool him for long. He always picks up on and neutralizes pranks before they go off. Just don't expect to pull that one off on him again."

"Okay." She smiled, relaxing at that. "As long as I don't have to. I know it's important to get things done, but you've also got to take care of yourself." She touched her chest, where she made the metals. "There was something else. I ate one of Zero's hairs."

Now she had him puzzled. "You did?" he asked. "You eat some weird things."

Cinnamon put her hands in her lap. "It's because of the generator. I have to eat the raw materials for the force metals."

"Ah. But why one of his hairs?"

"Well, I had this idea…" she paused, then said, "You see, I've been trying to make a love metal for a while now, to help the Professor understand them a little more. It's not worked yet, but then I thought, maybe if I ate a bit that came from the reploid I want to make a love metal for, then it could work. But it is a weird thing to ask, don't you think? Seeing if someone would let me take a bit of their body."

He nodded. "Right, most people wouldn't be sure what you meant by it." Because that statement could be taken in ways that she wouldn't think of.

"But then it makes sense too," she went on, "because the love metal is so selective that making one should include something of the target. I happened to see one of Zero's hairs fall out and was able to pick it up. After eating it, I think I'm on the right track, but I think there must be something more to creating one. Which is odd, because love metals show up at random. Or, maybe not as random as we think."

"Like there's some greater force directing this power?" When she nodded, Axl felt a touch concerned. If there was some intelligence behind the force metals, then what was it like? Was the intelligence trying to help them, or corrupt them? And why were those particular metals so adaptive, being exactly what the person needed? But that gave him an idea. "Well, maybe you need to be thinking strongly about the person when you're trying to make it."

"Thinking strongly of them… I tried that several times." She put her hands to her chest. "But maybe it's more than one piece that's needed, the physical piece of them, and the mental thoughts of them."

Axl looked off at the light sculpture, thinking on it too. "So you want to make one for Zero. Why?"

"Mmm…" she closed her eyes. "I want to be a friend to him, like the rest of you. I know that he is biased against force metals because of the way they affect him. But, I think that if there could be a love metal for him, then it would seek to help him as all others do. I don't think it would make him stronger, for he seems strong enough already. But maybe… I mean, did you see how disappointed he was when he came back with us from Vanallia? He was trying not to show it, but he was ashamed about how the supra-force metal affected him, and the fact that it means that he can't continue on our missions."

"You've figured that out already?" Axl asked, impressed. She was young, but quite keen if she could tell that. "They haven't said anything."

"But I know that he can't unless something is done about his reactions. X wouldn't want to embarrass him by making him stand out of any encounter with SFM users, so Zero would have to work elsewhere. But then the strongest members of the Rebellion would have them… I think, if I focus…"

Axl kept quiet, sitting by her. It was good then that no one else was here at the moment. Then the blue piece on her armor started to glow gently. It built slowly, probably taking longer due to the more difficult metal she was trying to make. After a sharp increase in brightness, the glow then faded.

"Hmm?" she said, sounding dazed. She opened up the slot and pulled out two gray metals. Closing it up, she looked over them. "That's odd. I've made multiples before, but that wasn't supposed to happen…" she clasped them in her hand, focusing in on them. Then she perked up. "Oh!"

"What did you make?" Axl asked, curious.

She opened her hand back up and pointed to one. "Well this one should be a love metal for Zero, so it worked. I get a feeling like him when I sense it. And this one," she pointed to the other, "seems to have come up because I was successful with making the specific love metal. This is another one, but it belongs to me!"

"Great!" he said, grinning to her. "So you helped out Zero and yourself. That is, if he'll accept it."

Cinnamon equipped her metal, then looked it over as it adjusted. "I'll try talking to him. That is, if I can find him. Do you know where he'd be?"

"If nothing's going on?" Axl considered the places he knew about. Central Tower had a few combat simulator chambers, but those were in heavy use by the Resistance fighters who were still learning. "I'd try the helipad up in the Governor's District first. That seems like the kind of place he'd hang out at." It was a solitary high location with a large surface to practice on, plus clear views all around to see if anyone was coming. And it was in an area that was mostly restricted, out of the way. Those were all things that Zero would be drawn to in a place to spend down time.

"Okay, I'll go check there." She hugged him. "Thanks Axl. If you want any help with a particular metal, I'll see if I can make it for you." She then let him go and stood up.

"Sure, I'll keep that in mind," he said, smiling. "Good luck with Zero."

"I'll be okay," she said, then left through the door she had come in through. She looked back to normal, much better than when she'd come in.

Much better. Axl was feeling happier himself. Despite Zero's comments on this place, Axl was getting to like Giga City. Especially its people. Now that the Resistance held all but two districts, the civilians were getting quite hopeful with the end of this conflict in sight. Everyone was looking to make things better, at peace, which was how things should be. And the others in the squad X had gathered together, he felt like all of them could be friendships that would last many years. Axl would have to work even harder, then, to make sure that they all got to see peace return to the whole city.

Then a transmission message from Nana broke him from his thoughts. " _Axl, could you come up to the command room? There seems to be a problem and I want to see if your government override key can get past it."_

He got up from the bench and headed for the door. Good, something to do. _"All right, I'll be up there as soon as I can."_

* * *

 

Regular force metals could make a reploid feel like he or she could do anything. If one picked up the wrong ones, then the reploid would become strangely driven to accomplish that, no matter what or who stood in the way. What could the supra-force metals drive one to do?

Marino walked through Ulfat Factory's halls. It was more hectic, now that work was being accomplished. However, none of the mechaniloid or reploid workers bothered her. Which was good, since she was thinking on unsettling things. In the past, she had run into one of the wrong force metals. The fight with Botos had stirred up memories of that.

…

It was an Alertness metal, one that increased awareness of what was going on. It would help her spot potential foes before they attack. That was good, as Marino's job was to protect the woman who owned her. More or less; she had paid for Marino to be built, and thus she was obligated to work as her bodyguard until she repaid that cost. She was supposed to wear the metal during times when the lady was out in untrusted areas.

That Alertness force metal was the first thing that Marino had stolen. When she wore it, she had a feeling of total assurance, not just alertness. And she felt a thrill like nothing else when she reequipped the stolen metal. With her skills, and the power of force metal, she could take anything she wanted.

And more metals would make that more certain.

…

She felt weak, but with a sharp hatred inside. Marino was looking at a short girl reploid with pink hair. Last thing she could remember was fighting this girl. It should have been easy. But no, she had been defeated and now was held captive. No matter how she glared, the girl reploid did not seem disturbed. "Palei, she's awake now," she called out.

"Thank you, Raffie," a woman said. She came into the room, checked a monitor, then looked to her. "So, you are Marino."

"What do you want?" she growled. "Why did you take my metals?"

"Because they were harming you more than helping."

"That's not true!"

Palei tilted her head. "Then what have you been doing the past two months? Check your memory."

Marino looked at her suspiciously. She considered it, but her mind was in a strange haze. "I'd been working… for…"

"You can't even remember that, right? Maybe you remember that you worked for one of the society ladies of Giga City. But do you remember what killed her?"

"She's not dead," she replied. At least, as far as she knew.

"You killed her," Palei said.

"I would not. It was my job to protect her."

"You did. There is plenty of proof, including some recordings that I have. If the Maverick Hunters or the local bounty hunters got a hold of them, then you would find yourself being executed as an FM Maverick. But I can tell already that you won't ever remember the past two months fully."

Something wasn't right here. But she wasn't going to admit that it was her that was wrong. "I'm not a Maverick. I might be a thief, but I'm not a Maverick. Just give me my force metals back and let me go."

Palei shook her head. "No, not until I know which of your metals is the corruptive one. Or ones, it might be that way. And, not until your mind and body have healed up. I believe that FM Mavericks are significantly different than viral Mavericks, as it might be possible to recover ones like you, get you back into a normal life. Whether you like it or not, you're my test subject for this theory now. Your other option is taking your chances with the Hunters, who, as I said, are likely to execute you on sight."

"I want the metals back!" Marino snapped. But at that moment, she felt a dissonance in what she said and what she felt. Maybe something was wrong.

…

Standing in front of the overseer's station, Marino brought her mind out of the past. She still didn't know entirely what had happened in those missing two months of her memory. But she had accepted what she had done in that madness, or whatever had gripped her as she kept that corrupted Alertness metal equipped. She had been getting better. Of course, it helped being near X and his peers, as their presence was a continual silent discouragement from swiping things.

But then, being near Botos while he had that SFM equipped had stirred up feelings she thought were past. That one had oozed with power, enough that she could feel its influence even though she wasn't touching it. She felt that lure again, the promise of power to do anything she wanted if she threw caution away. When Cinnamon had punched it off, Marino had felt a fierce impulse to go chasing after it to take it before the others could. And she could tap into the speed to make that possible.

She had caught herself in time, though. Last time, she had been lucky to be caught by Rafflesian and Palei. Next time, there wouldn't be someone willing to let her reform. She still wanted to talk with Palei, though, and knocked on the door.

It opened, revealing one of the Belladonnas. "Hello, Marino," the girl robot said. "What're you visiting for?"

"I got a few things to talk to Palei about," she replied. "Mostly personal, if that's okay."

"I can make time for you," Palei called. "Come on in."

Marino nodded to the Belladonna as she came in. The disguised human pushed aside some blueprints that were on a hologram display; Marino sat in a chair by the projector unit. "I'll try not to take too long if you're doing something important, but something's happened."

"I'm mostly approving designs before we start production," Palei said. "I have to get numbers from R anyhow before I do. I suppose you've gotten back from the Vanallia mission?"

"Yeah, we've got the interference shield taken down," Marino told her. Thinking of something, she pulled a vial out of her pocket and handed it over. "Oh, and Cinnamon wanted me to give you this sample of cyber liquid from a Liquid Glob."

"Ah, really?" She took it and examined the contents of the testing tube. "It remains cold even in here. This is excellent; I've been looking for a sample of this stuff to finish that one project." She chuckled. "In good time to use it, even. Thank her for me. But, this isn't what you've got on your mind." She set the vial in a small drawer, to keep track of it.

"No," she said, resting her arms on the side of the projector. "The Rebellion member we fought there was Botos. He was equipped with what they call a supra-force metal. Gaudile is testing it now, but I know that stuff is way more powerful than regular force metal. It's about the same size as the standard commercial piece, but he was giving all of us a challenge. I could feel its power radiating from him; it was an awful lot like that corrupted metal. And Zero reacted so badly to it that he had to drop out of most of the fight."

At that point, she noticed that Palei was giving her an intense look, as if she recognized something that Marino didn't. "Supra-force… SFM…" she said thoughtfully. Then she seemed to turn the thought aside. "I see. It felt like the corrupted metal?"

She nodded. "I felt that seductive pull of power again and I considered stealing the SFM myself. I was able to restrain myself, but I had that moment where I wanted to turn back, which I haven't felt in months. It worried me, since I thought I was past that."

"You had the willpower to resist, so you are better than before. It is something to be concerned about, especially if that SFM piece turns out to not be unique." She frowned. "Which I am certain that it is not."

"You are?" Marino asked. "Do you know about them?"

She shook her head. "Not exactly. But I heard something referred to as SFM around five years ago. If it turns out that that project refers to this supra-force metal, there could be a serious problem in our future. And not just with your previous experience with a corrupted metal."

* * *

 

Although she had expected him to be practicing, when Cinnamon stepped onto the heliport, she found Zero standing at the far edge, just looking out to the horizon. There was a weather tower near him, topped by a spinning anemometer that was keeping track of the air conditions in case anyone wanted to land. There was a strong breeze blowing, enough to toss her hair, but not enough to make this area dangerous. Other than the machinery (which was just the quiet whir of the anemometer), there wasn't a lot of noise out here.

Cinnamon walked over to Zero. He didn't make a motion to acknowledge her presence. But right as she opened her mouth to ask for his attention, Zero turned his head down slightly and asked, "What is it, Cinnamon?"

Did he have eyes on the back of his head or something? It momentarily freaked her out. But then she realized that he might have enough experience to identify her just by the sound of her walking. "Hi Zero," she said, going over to stand by him at the edge of the heliport. "I have something I want to give you. It's a love metal that I made a little while ago." She pulled it out of her pocket and held it out for him to see. It was gray with refractive crystals, like many other metals. But as she held it, she felt that it was strongly drawn to him.

He looked down at it, but clearly didn't trust it. "I don't work well with force metals; you should have noticed that."

"Well yes, but this one will. It wants to work with you."

Zero gave her a mildly intimidating look, but Cinnamon did her best to remain firm. "It doesn't have the intelligence to want anything," he pointed out.

"Not exactly," she admitted. "But I can tell it's supposed to be yours. The more I work with them, the more force metals seem to be programs that aren't quite self-aware, but can't work without awareness. It could be why they help us, because they can tap into our awareness and kind of be aware. You can really tell with these love metals, because they try so hard to adapt to the ones they like. And this one likes you. I've made one for myself too." And she'd be watching how it worked, but right now, she wanted to convince Zero to take his metal.

"I don't like the sound of that," he said. "That's like being a parasite, or not even that. More like…" he passed his hand over Cinnamon's in a dismissive gesture. But then, he cut himself off without warning, looking back to the love metal.

Which was strange, because she was getting an odd feeling from the metal in her hand. Cinnamon had felt love metals being drawn to their people before, and she had felt the strange goading, almost whispers, that the corrupted ones emitted. This was the first time that she felt strong disappointment from a force metal. Clutching it to her chest, she braced herself and sharply said, "Zero, I think you've made it upset."

Now Zero looked uneasy, maybe even a little guilty. It was odd seeing him like that. Even more so when he said, "That… that does seem to be right."

"I just wanted to help you too," she said. "And be your friend. It's always better to have more friends."

It was quiet between them for a moment. Then Zero shook his head. "It's not quite as you see things," he said. "You and I live different lives, and it will probably always be that way."

"But," she started to say, but then he held his hand up to her.

"That just means we see life in different ways," he told her. "But there is a bond between us. It's a friendship that you're not aware of because you are young and this is all new to you. We fight for the same side in the same battles, and when it counts, we will support and protect each other. But you are made for a time of peace and I was made in a time of war. I'm awkward in regular social situations." Then he smiled slightly. "And that fact that I feel comfortable in telling you that means that I feel a closer bond to you than most people."

"Oh, really?" She smiled and bowed to him. "I hadn't thought of it in that way, I guess."

"There's much you have to learn. But…" he held his hand up, then hesitated. "That force metal… I had a brief feeling that it was upset that I would reject it."

She clasped the metal tightly in her hands. "That's what I felt too. Maybe we have a similar kind of sense for them?" She offered it to him again. "So will you try it out for a little while, at least?"

Zero seemed to be considering it. Then he nodded and took the metal. "If I can sense these things like you can, then it means no harm, to me or anyone else." He equipped it, then to her surprise, took hold of her right wrist. "There is something I've been thinking about," he said. "You can make for a good featherweight boxer. But your posture and form can use some improvement, and you could learn to avoid being grabbed like I just did to you. Would you care for a few lessons?" He put on a serious look. "And I don't go easy on my students. Just ask X."

For a moment, Cinnamon felt nervous. But then she gathered her nerves and nodded. "Okay, that sounds like a good thing."

He left go of her. "Good, then let's get away from the edge so there's more room."

* * *

 

Melda was a rather quiet district now. When the Rebellion had held onto the majority of Giga City, it had been watched over by Ferham and Sineswiper. She had the northern ore shaft area, while he had the southern factory area. The former Hunter did have more ground to cover, but Ferham had the more important facility. And then Sineswiper had vanished without notice. Yet the Resistance put no claim on Melda yet.

Now the Rebellion only had two districts, both divided by Central District. Vanallia had fallen, leaving Luna, Botos, Ferham, and Scarface waiting out in Melda Ore Plant to hear who would go to Epsilon. "Botos should be around," Ferham said, tapping a finger against her arm. "I know he came in, but I don't know where he's hiding at."

"We lost Vanallia rather quickly," Scarface said. He was sitting by her on a bench in a break room.

"Hmph." She leaned back, with her arms crossed over her chest. "Botos was ultimately responsible for it. I was told to just obstruct them and I got called back here."

"But it lets them get outside help."

Ferham sighed. Sometimes she would like to suggest leaving again. But, Epsilon was locked into Grave Ruins Base. It was going to be hard leaving, especially after they nearly held the whole city. It didn't seem that long ago. "What do you think the plan will be now?"

"We've still got this on hand," Scarface said. "It's almost ready to fly. We might get caught in a corner ourselves, but this will change things. We just need to hold on until we can launch."

"True. So I probably will be staying here." She frowned. "With him…"

The masked knight put his arm around her shoulder. "I could always suggest that he watch over the southern factory area. I think Epsilon would be agreeable to that."

"I'm not sure why Epsilon trusted him with a key, though," Ferham said. "I wouldn't have. He always seems like he's scheming something behind our backs."

"Well he can't do anything without your agreement, and we know that you're going to be loyal. And if he proves obstinate when the time comes, I think Epsilon has plans for that."

"I hope so." She rested her head against Scarface's shoulder. "It would be nice if we could stay together for more than an hour at a time."

"Right." He put his head on hers and kissed her lightly. "Sometimes I am tempted to just to stay with you, wherever you would fly. But this is our duty.

One of the doors to the room shifted open, making Ferhem tense up momentarily. But it was Luna, not Botos. She always looked odd in her land form, a small female humanoid with a whale tail coming off her waist and nearly reaching the floor, and then her long flippers over thin arms. Some would even comment that her horn, placed on the bridge of her nose, wasn't in the right place. She looked much better in her normal sea-based form, which was more like the narwhale she was named for. As Luna wasn't a Lagrano reploid, Ferham didn't know her as well. Sometimes she thought that she should, if only because she was another female in the Rebellion.

She looked nervous, glancing back at the hall. Not seeing anything of concern, she turned to them and bowed. "Sir, m'am… I picked up a message bot outside. It had been shot at." She handed over a small flying mechaniloid; a gouge from a shot-type weapon had torn up its speakers. But it did bear the markings of one of their bots.

After gripping Ferham's shoulder, Scarface got up and took the bot. His eyes were closed for a minute as he took the message from it. After nodding, he looked to them. "I'm to head for Grave Ruins now, to prepare the forces there," he said. "Ferham, Luna, you both stay in the silo and get the weapon finished and ready for launch. We're going to send it as soon as we can. And don't worry; Botos is to stay outside and make sure no one unauthorized enters."

Ferham got up from the bench. "How long will it be before we're ready?"

"Eight hours, as projected by the engineering computer," Luna replied.

She had been hoping for less then that; even half that would have been her high guess. "That's still a large window for the Resistance to come in. Do we have anyone or anything else that could act as guards? Just about anybody would be useful."

"I don't believe so," Scarface said. "I can ask for some to be sent when I get to Grave; we might even be able to get up a diversionary battle in time."

"Um," Luna said, uncertain about speaking up to the Cadres.

"What is it?" Ferham asked, keeping her voice gentle.

The narwhale reploid put a hand to her chest. "There is that one guy around here," she suggested. "He's a little… kooky, but if we tell him that someone strong is coming here, then he should agree to fight with us. Or maybe if one of you talked with him; he's from Lagrano, or so I heard. He lives in a separate part of the silo."

"You'll have to introduce me to him," Ferham said. "We'll give that a try. After Botos fled from his last battle, I don't trust him to hold his grounds."

"Good thinking," Scarface said. "I don't know how good contact will be, but I'm sure with things getting down to the wire, we'll be checking in with you often."

* * *

 

That had been a hair too close. The narwhale girl had senses geared for underwater work, so he had expected her to be less aware above water. But no, as it turned out, she had noticed him. It was either extremely sharp hearing or some kind of sonar. Or, less likely but possible, an electricity detection system. Invisibility was great and all, but it didn't guarantee a perfect degree of hiding in plain sight.

But he had learned valuable information. There was the lock on the prize, two of the Cadres had keys, and he had eight hours before this chance was gone permanently. However, there were just enough people around to raise alarm at suspicious activity. He would have to be both patient and quick to snatch up an opportunity.

Unseen to any, he smirked. This was the kind of thrill that made him feel so alive. And he had been staying his hand for far too long; this could turn out to be a very satisfying victory if he played his cards right.

* * *

 

X was a patient person. If he wasn't, then he might be annoyed that he had slept more than he had expected to. He knew his rest cycles and he knew it wasn't normal for him to sleep twelve hours straight unless he had a major injury. Still, he was feeling refreshed and calm, so it hadn't been entirely bad. But a lot could change in twelve hours and he needed to be on top of things.

On entering the command room, he found Axl working with Chief R. Mikey the parrot whistled as usual to his entrance. "Ah, there you are, X," R said. "You were down longer than I expected."

"Me too," X said, noting the momentarily glint of recognition in Axl's expression. He was probably not responsible, although he might know something about it. "Anything been going on?"

"It's more like nothing has gone through and that's troubling," Axl said.

R nodded. "We've successfully eliminated the interference signals that the Rebellion was broadcasting, and even regained enough control over the Vanallia District to retrieve Massimo's armor. But we still have been unable to get any transmissions in or out of the city. Even the slow low-data lines we were able to access before have been totally cut off."

"Is it from inside or outside the city?" X asked, coming over to look at the screens Axl was working at.

The younger Hunter brought up some other data. "I've been trying for the past six hours to get anything in or out. Nana?"

After a moment, the city operator replied, "I have been able to access functions of the satellite that regularly orbits above Giga City, such as deep scanning the oceans or using its cameras. But it will not relay any information."

"Neither my government passwords nor Axl's could make headway," R said. "So it seems that the world government has put a data embargo over Giga City."

"Embargo…" X's mind raced. Such a tactic would only be used in certain scenarios, including a few that would be utterly devastating to a city inhabited by reploids. Indeed, it was part of the official procedure used when large scale anti-electronics weapons were to be employed. But only X and a select few others in the world would know that. "May I look at this myself? I need to check something."

"Sure, good luck with doing anything," Axl said, getting out of the chair.

Fortunately, Axl had what data X needed to review ready to bring up. "Has the Professor made any discoveries about the SFM piece we brought back?"

"Yes," R said. "You may wish to speak with him yourself, but it seems that this supra-force metal is a metal that bears a high concentration of power."

"Yeah, wasn't it potentially a thousand times more powerful than a standard metal?" Axl asked. "I can't see how they get that much power into such a small item."

"It was unusually dense," X said, running his fingers just above the screen to review the numbers. "And that would make sense of Zero's reaction to its presence."

"Well Dr. Palei came back to the tower a few hours ago with Marino," R said. "They went to discuss things with Gaudile and to deliver the armor upgrades for most of our civilian fighters."

"Oh, and Zero walked in on them testing the SFM," Axl added. "Cinnamon made a love metal for him and now the SFM doesn't cause his perception to go wonky."

"Very good," X said. But the numbers he was seeing weren't so good. "By the words of Incentas and others, the Rebellion must hold more of the SFM material. But if it is so powerful, we should be able to pick it up with the assistance of the satellite. Nana, can you get anything?"

"I had thought of that," she said, sending information to him. "I'm picking up signals of it from both Grave Ruins Base in the Freesia District and a point in Melda District that looks like a missile silo."

"A missile silo?" Axl asked, concerned.

"There aren't any silos in Giga City, not that I'm aware of," R said.

"It's registered as a mining shaft," Nana replied. "But it looks like a silo now."

X bit his lip, then got out of the seat. "R, get my squad together as quickly as you can. I want to ask Gaudile and Palei about the SFM in more detail, which hopefully won't take long. Axl, get down to the docks and check over the Black Gull; make sure it's ready to go, then get back here. Then we need anti-air weaponry fully prepared, as well as any missile defense that Giga City has. If we don't act fast, then we're screwed on two fronts."


	27. The Ultimate Weapon

Butler had spent over two hours in getting the Massimo armor cleaned. While the mechanics had done a good job in getting the majority of the sand particles out, he still cleaned out a good deal more in cracks and in the fingers. Having an immaculate appearance was part of his old job as a butler. And his mentor (and still hero) had given this amazing gift to him, so he would keep it in excellent condition.

When he got done, he got back into it to make sure that it was working again. It felt good to be back with it. The feeling made him a bit uneasy. He wasn't supposed to be a combatant, and he shouldn't be enjoying this. But Butler did feel stronger and safer with this armor. Even so, he had managed well enough in the Vanallia mission without it. "Not much of a non-combatant now, am I?" he asked of himself.

But then he thought of the two they had rescued, Kratos and Sunbee. He had helped to save their lives. And if he could keep the Rebellion from killing others, then it was worth it. And it must have been thoughts like that which kept X going too.

" _Butler, we need you to report as Massimo in the command center as quickly as you can,_ " Nana messaged him. " _Is your armor functional now?"_

" _Yes, it's performing as usual,"_ he replied. " _I'll head on up there."_

" _Thank you. This seems to be something serious, so don't get sidetracked."_

He took the air bus up to the Governor's Precinct level. He waved to Marino when she got on the vehicle. Due to the early morning hour, there was no one else aboard. "Good morning," he said.

"Morning," she replied, sitting by him. "You hear about what's going on?"

"Not exactly, but it seems to be some emergency."

She leaned back. "Yeah, but the district seems so quiet. If the Rebellion were attacking Central Tower, then surely there'd be more alarm." Marino seemed to be relaxing, brushing a strand of green hair out of her eyes. But Butler had observed her enough that she seemed alert to him. "There's two districts left to claim now. Which one do ya think will be our next target?"

Massimo considered it. "Good question. Axl told me that he'd already been to Melda and defeated one of the Rebellion members there. Then there's Freesia…" that brought up some painful memories.

"Yeah, Freesia," Marino said, dispirited.

He looked down at her. "Marino, did you live and work there at one point? With the humans?"

"Oh…" she glanced to him, then nodded. "Yeah, I worked in the human community before, and not as a thief. I was a bodyguard, if you can believe it. Protecting a high-society lady, blending into lavish social events."

"Why would you give that up for thievery?" Of course, he didn't always understand Marino's mindset. Stealing was just plain wrong and he had agreed with X's initial move to arrest her. But then, he had also agreed secretly with Cinnamon's argument against it.

He expected her to get defensive, or sarcastic about it. Instead, she looked sad, maybe even guilty. "I met a demon. That's what Cinnamon calls them, at least. Folks can get greedy and foolish with too many powerful metals. But then, there are a few metals that are downright corrupt, seemingly evil. Once the demons touch you, things can spiral out of control before you realize it." She paused. "Palei saved me. Still, I felt before that I would never want to enter the Freesia District ever again. Too many reminders of that time."

"I feel the same way," he said in sympathy. "I worked in Freesia before too. I was there when the Rebellion came in… and started slaughtering people."

"That's rough. I hate to say it, but I expect that we're going to have to go to Freesia to end this whole mess. I'm willing to wager that the Rebellion is set up there."

Massimo frowned. "But that's where all the upper class humans were living, the sort of people the Rebellion tried to stand against."

Marino sat up, nodding. "I know it sounds counter-intuitive. That is, until you remember that Grave Ruins Base is also there." She looked up at him with a serious expression. "The place where they train and test military-grade reploids, the sort Lagrano Industries liked to manufacture. That place had state of the art defenses and securities before the Rebellion members were even blueprints; still does. And Epsilon would have been in the position, and of the right intelligence, to acquire the security codes to get in and make it his own. Melda's a manufacturing district, not made for orchestrating a war from."

"I see."

"We are arriving at the Governor's Precinct dock," the pilot said. "Have a good day, you two."

"That would be lucky," Marino murmured, just loud enough for Massimo to hear. "Well let's go see what the fuss is over."

When they walked into the command room, both of them noticed how serious the room seemed. Nana and R were at one end reviewing data and discussing something between them. X was speaking quietly to Axl and Zero at another computer station. Closer to the entrance, Gaudile was nervously twitching his mechanical arms, Palei was reading over a screen and frowning, and Cinnamon was nervously swaying on her feet. She came over to them, but didn't say anything yet.

A couple minutes later, the three Hunters got the group gathered in a circle. "Okay folks, we have a deadly serious situation on our hands," X said. "On one hand, we have the Rebellion. If you haven't heard, the supra-force metal piece that Botos had was discovered to be a highly concentrated metal that greatly increased his performance parameters. If we run into him again, I'm sure we'll find him to be a much easier foe without it. The Rebellion seems to have more of this material on hand.

"When we used the clear satellite link to search for energy signatures to match, we discovered that the Rebellion has created a missile silo in the Melda District, specifically near the ore plant. Further scans of the area reveal that this silo is active; we are almost certain that they have a long-range missile within it. Recent activity shows that they could plan to launch this weapon soon, either a test or the real thing, anywhere from a few days to a few hours away.

"But on the other hand, we have the global government. When we cleared the disrupting transmissions at Vanallia, we actually failed to get any further contact from outside Giga City. It appears that we are under a data embargo, as even the slow transfer processes that we've attempted before fail immediately." He paused, taking a breath before speaking again. "From the looks of things, I can say that it is highly likely that the global government is preparing to use erasure bombardments to wipe out all active programming in the city, including that of reploids."

"Are they seriously going to use erasure bombs?" Marino asked, sounding angered. "We aren't all the Rebellion."

"We know that, but they won't," Zero said. "When we left, they had already declared this place a high danger zone and no one was to come or go."

"What can we do against that?" Palei asked. "Sure, you could get deep enough in the ocean that the erasure bombs couldn't touch you, but it would be difficult to get everyone there even if we had a submarine fleet capable of that. And if the Rebellion is planning on launching a weapons missile, or heck, even any kind of missile, they would take that as a signal to start the bombing."

X nodded. "I know, which is why we have to act quickly on both fronts. The good thing is, I know personally that erasure bombing requires a lot of bureaucratic steps taken. No one can simply decide to do it; there is a strict procedure to it and any number of things can delay it. Axl." He turned to the younger Hunter.

"Yes sir?" he replied.

"I'm sending you out to disrupt the erasure bombing procedure. I want you to take Massimo with you as a representative from the Resistance. But," he glanced to Massimo, "please use the name Butler for this task, as it may cause certain complications otherwise."

Did it have to do with his mentor's past? At any rate, he wouldn't want to mess up on that account. He nodded. "All right, sir."

"Good." X handed Axl a data drive. "This contains an objection to the process that will at least cause a stall, although I hope it will cause them to send investigators in. Once you get out of the embargo's range, follow the instructions on this drive exactly as stated. Some of it is my government ID numbers, so do not lose track of that drive. After you do that, proceed back to the Tokyo base and make contact with our people, including Redips. Once they know that all three of us are alive and that Zero and I are still in here, that should give us room to get this issue straightened out."

After slipping the drive into a slot that was on his wrist, Axl nodded. "Right, we'll get that done."

Then X looked to the rest of them. "That means that Zero, Marino, and Cinnamon will be coming with me to Melda Ore Plant to investigate the silo. Professor Gaudile, I want you on hand in case we need data on the weapon analyzed. I expect a lot of opposition, as we pushed the Rebellion into two districts and they must have a crew preparing there. When we get there, there won't be much time for discussion, so you must be ready to do as asked when Zero or I ask it of you. Our priority is to confirm the weapon and then interrupt its launch safely. We don't have much time on either task and both groups will need to get moving and keep moving once this meeting is over. Are there any questions?"

* * *

 

Axl and Butler teleported straight to the docks once the meeting was over. In the growing brightness from the rising sun, the Black Gull sat low in the water. The vessel was currently looking a deep dark blue, its stealth settings adapting to the growing light. "This trip is going to take us several hours," Axl said. "Their group could be done by the time we get in range to send the message."

"But the important thing is that we'll get the message out in time," Butler pointed out.

"Right. I'm going to show you how the sensor array works, then have you keep an eye on the embargo while I drive."

* * *

 

X, Zero, Cinnamon, and Marino appeared near the Melda Ore Plant where the silo was. They had used the satellite to pick a point where the local mechaniloids wouldn't see them. Amazing that the satellite could manage, as a dark gray cloud cover was overhead, dropping large puffy snowflakes on them. The wind whistled through some fences and equipment, making loose parts rattle.

Despite being a clear location, X wouldn't speak aloud. " _It's good that we have two of you who can locate the SFM,"_ he said. " _Do you have any hints just standing here?"_

" _Underground, just ahead_ ," Zero replied.

Cinnamon listened, trying to get a sense of it. " _It's a neutral one, but still potent. And I think this one is much bigger than the last_."

" _All right, that'll make it easier to track down. Nana, what have you got for us?"_

Due to the importance of this mission, the city operator was paying immediate attention to their activities. _"The entrance to the silo is a hundred and ten yards south of your location. It appears that Botos is ninety yards from you, guarding the door. His power level is less than was recorded at Vanallia, so he does not have an SFM on him this time."_

" _Let's make an attempt to restrain and capture him_ ," X said. _"Marino, sneak over there and get between him and the silo. Then get Botos in a pincer attack with Zero."_ He sent them a hand signal, telling them to get on it. The two red armored reploids dashed off into the snow while X and Cinnamon made to run after them.

The girl reploid felt uneasy about being with X now. Maybe she shouldn't of had him sleep so long. But he had also been exhausted at the end of the last mission, so maybe that gave him a clearer mind to deal with this. She thought about bringing it up now. However, he had emphasized that they needed to keep focused on this mission and avoid getting delayed. This wasn't a good time to talk about other issues. So Cinnamon kept quiet, following X closely.

Then the quiet was broken with the sound of Zero's plasma blade and a rip of torn armor. "Wh-wh-what?" Botos shouted in surprise. "When did you guys get here?"

"When we were scheduled to," Marino said teasingly. "And not a moment later."

There was a 'pong' sound as Botos attempted to attack them with his sound weapon. But it wasn't nearly as loud as before. When Cinnamon got the three of them in view, she saw that the Rebellion Cadre had not gotten his sound amplifiers completely repaired yet. X fired at him, causing Botos to further panic. He spun around, smacking Marino with his hand as he did so. And, he summoned two of those illusion bodies. The real one then bolted into the silo for safety.

" _Marino, stay here_ ," X ordered, shooting at one of the fakes. " _Let's not get separated."_

" _What if he locks the door_?" Marino asked. But she did attack the bot that was revealed under the illusion.

" _I'll handle that from here,"_ Nana said. " _I can control any part that was a part of the mine now. I'll let you know when you cross into what they've dug out."_

After handling the illusion bots, they entered the silo. There was a circular staircase headed down; rails along the walls showed where mine carts might have moved out previously. Past that, there was a large room with a stone grey floor and stark white walls. Botos wasn't here. Instead, there were two bulky duck-like reploids standing guard, each carrying a large spiked hammer drill.

"Hah!" both of them said at once. Oddly enough, they sounded just like the Professor. The one on the left said, "It must be you guys."

"The Resistance polks beating down our brethren," the one on the right added.

"Stand aside or we will fight past you," X said sternly.

"Then prove your strength," one said.

"Duckbill Mole twins and the K-balls…"

"Attack!" both of them said, launching waves of flame energy at the same time.

Cinnamon braced herself, but Zero and Marino were both already leaping over the attack and going on the offensive. X activated Silver Horn's ability and formed a water shield around himself and her. " _They must be Gemini twin units, and thus will be able to coordinate their attacks while barely communicating. Marino, Zero, you both stick to the ones that you are targeting now. Cinnamon, we're taking on the right one with Marino; use a Water capsule."_ He fired at the right one since Marino wasn't in the way.

Water? Wouldn't something in this place be affiliated with water? Wait. He had asked for them to act quickly. Cinnamon pulled out a weapons capsule, checking it quickly to make sure that was where she had stored the Waters (and it was), then twisted the cap and threw it at the Duckbill Mole. A burst of water much like a geyser shot out of the capsule, hiding an energy beam within it. The capsule could only carry so much fuel, making the items single-use only until repaired. However, it did give a strong elemental attack to someone like her who had no capacity to do so.

The Duckbill yelped, so it had been an effective choice. But then he glared at her as if he meant to charge. Noticing this, Marino grabbed the upper part of the hammer's handle and yanked it back and down. She wasn't able to take it out of his grasp, but she did deflect his attention from Cinnamon. On the other side of the room, the other Duckbill swing his K-ball hammer around, forcing Zero to step back out of range. He then flung his other arm at his brother, casting a fire wave at him. While Marino got out of the way, the Duckbill didn't. He absorbed the hit.

Would X notice? " _X, that healed and empowered him,"_ she said, just in case.

He was going to fire, but paused on hearing that. Then he nodded. " _I see. Hit him with another Water capsule, but then stick to neutral bombs until one empowers the other again."_

Then the Duckbills swung their hammers about in mirroring manners. Taking a risk, Zero rammed himself into the one he was focusing on, throwing off his attack. The other slammed his weapon into the floor, causing a sensation much like a minor earthquake. That could have thrown them to the ground if the union attack had worked.

Without warning, X grabbed Cinnamon and pulled her back. It startled her, but not as much as the abrupt earthen spikes that shot up in the spots they had just been standing on. Was that a common enough attack that X could guess it? Or did he sense things she couldn't? But she already knew she sensed things he couldn't… she was getting distracted, which wasn't good. She pulled out a grenade, pulled its pin, and tossed it at her target.

Marino had his attention, but did get out of the grenade's blast when it went off. X followed up with a charged blast; the other started to send a fire blast to his twin, but Zero interrupted it. After several more attacks, including some of Cinnamon's bombs, one of the Duckbill Mole twins fell. The other screamed in rage, spinning his hammer around him and stirring up the fire wave attack. Empowered now, he bashed Zero out of the way so that he could dash at X and Cinnamon.

She was face to face with a berserk looking duck and a frowning spiked hammer.

No, this wasn't the time to lose her nerves. She punched him in the throat as he tried to smash his hammer at them. X further interrupted the attack by firing inches away from the Mole. Now that he was off balance, Cinnamon followed up with a combo hit, to one eye in hopes of damaging it, to the chin for a painful hit, then the last at the side of his bill. The Mole was armored, so she aimed to hit unarmored areas. Once she pulled back, X fired again and Zero struck from behind.

Taking the opportunity, Cinnamon backed up and pulled one of the Water capsules out. That attack did the second Duckbill in. Had the weaponized water done critical damage, or had he overexerted himself in his berserk state? There wasn't the time to find out now.

" _Too many choose to fight,"_ X commented. " _But let's get going."_

* * *

 

In the missile control room, Ferham was checking over the pre-launch preparations. She could do most of it at this point and had orders to send it as soon as possible. Most everything was good, although the target guidance control was loose. Still, they could work with that. It didn't really matter what exact point it hit, as the immediate damage wasn't the goal. The guidance system could be off by a hundred miles and still be mostly good.

Nearby, Luna was watching over the construction bots and security. Ferham knew that many of the rank and file members of the Rebellion were excited about this event. It had been their long term goal so far as they knew (it was really just another step to their true goals). In view of that, one might expect a less disciplined reploid to be excited, chatty, and confident. But not Luna. She worked with quiet seriousness, although her frame was rigid with tension. While this meant that she wasn't annoying Ferham, she was worrying her.

"You doing all right over there?" Ferham asked, once she reached the limits of what she could do now.

Her body twitched at the unexpected conversation before the narwhal reploid looked to her. "Oh, erm, I guess…"

She frowned slightly. "Not really. What is it? You've been jumpy all this time."

Blushing, Luna sat back in her chair. "It's kind of embarrassing, but… one of my force metals has powers its not supposed to have. It lets me see things that other people can't… really terrible things. And I've started hearing them too, just today. Oh, and there's an invisible serial killer around… I think. I know it's around, even though I couldn't see it, and I had a very bad feeling when I sensed the reploid, as someone who's killed many times, and will keep doing so. It isn't nearby, but it's in Melda still, if it is real."

On one hand, she didn't seem crazy. On the other, that did sound crazy. Ferham wasn't sure what to do here. Maybe if she had known Luna better, then she would.

Something on the security panel buzzed, causing Luna to look at it. "One of the Duckbill twins has died?" She swapped over to another camera. Then her eyes widened.

Ferham got out of her seat to come see. Near the elevator that gave access to the silo, there was a crowded battle going on. It was X's group, but minus two members. Scowling, Ferham clenched a fist. "Oh, Botos! What's he up to? Luna, there's two others that should be here, the Maverick Hunter Axl and that big guy, Steel Massimo. Search for them from here and report to me when you find them. If that comes up fruitless, alter the security locks to slow this group down. I'm going to confront them." She headed out the door, feeling like stomping along the way.

"Ye-yes, m'am," Luna called, still nervous.

* * *

 

Zero felt normal, for him. Which was a great thing, considering the power that the nearby SFM was emitting. Although he wasn't certain how accurate his sense for these metals were, it seemed to be hooked up to some kind of non-sentient system. He should have been off-kilter on the elevator from it. However, his new love metal was working constantly to convince his systems that he didn't need to go into overdrive.

This place had many security measures in place: upper-level Preons, built-in traps, even that pair of twins at the elevator. If it had just been Resistance members coming in, they would have had trouble making any progress. But he and X were involved, and they had seen this all before. They had survived places that had been clearly designed with insane levels of paranoia. This place, it wasn't too hard. And having the thief Marino along helped too, as she could quickly disarm many traps. Add to that a healing reploid in Cinnamon and things were getting easy. Having the whole group would have been overkill… or problematic in space issues. At any rate, speed was of the essence and they were making good time.

Right now, the only thing between them and the silo itself was a locked maintenance door. There were other doors, but Nana had reassured them that this would lead to the missile. And by his sense, the SFM was there too. That worried Zero, but he didn't bring it up yet. Marino was fiddling with a panel by the door to see what she could do.

The light above the door turned green, indicating that it was unlocked. Marino stretched a foot into the doorway to get it to open. "There we go," she said quietly.

X nodded, then went inside. After the two girls had gone in, Zero followed. There was a metal walkway there, with no railing. Just past this was a five story drop to the bottom of the silo, with another story above them. The Rebellion missile sat within this silo, unpainted and still being worked on by flying mechaniloids. However, they didn't have a lot left to do; one group was already putting fuel into it.

Looking up, Zero frowned at the conical tip. That was where the warhead would be normally, an explosive waiting for ignition. But that was exactly where he sensed the SFM at. It wasn't volatile by itself, he thought. Then he recalled what force metal could do if forced to explode.

His friend was kneeling at the edge, looking over the lower portions. " _Looks like a standard intercontinental Ares Missile,_ " he stated over his secure line. _"From my initial impression, it could strike anywhere in the world from here. It's not ready, but it could be fired in around three hours from now."_

" _They've got the SFM in the warhead,"_ Zero told him.

Cinnamon was near the wall; she put her hands over her mouth. " _I think there's some extra explosive material in there too, in order to make certain that it goes off."_

X glanced upward, then back at the rockets below. _"That's worrisome."_

" _The SFM by itself wouldn't make too much physical damage when it struck,"_ Professor Gaudile said. " _But more worrying would be the aftereffects of that much pressure on that concentrated of a metal. Any mechaniloid, and possibly even computer caught in the power release would go bonkers, and any reploid would have a high probability of turning Maverick. Cinnamon, Zero, could you give me an estimate of how big or powerful that SFM is? Or just send me what data you can read off it."_

" _All right, Professor,"_ Cinnamon said, closing her eyes to concentrate.

After studying the warhead, Zero decided to simply send the data. It was powerful, but he wasn't sure how to rate it. " _There."_

" _This definitely isn't meant to reach orbit,"_ X said. _"And it doesn't have as much steering capacity as usual. They're not all that interested in accuracy, just getting it to go a great distance away."_

After a moment, Gaudile got back to them. " _Assuming the standard weight for an Ares missile, plus the weak explosive reading I got, means that this will make a crater wherever it hits, but it is unlikely to do more than a few acres worth of direct damage. The secondary damage of the SFM power release, however, my calculations on that are staggering. This weapon could turn the reploids in half the northern hemisphere into Mavericks! And it doesn't even have to be accurate, just so long as it falls near a heavy population of reploids. They'll be temporarily empowered, but stand a strong chance of instantly becoming addicted to the power, throwing out their old morals so that they can pursue that feeling of empowerment again."_

" _Someone's entered the silo near you,"_ Nana interrupted. " _I can't tell from here who or if they have a SFM equipped."_

Then she appeared, the winged female who had fought them in Vanallia. Ferham sent ice energy at the four of them, but stayed her distance. "You're here early," she said, nearly covering up an underlying anger with a tone of playfulness. "I've got the only show going on, it seems."

Zero glanced at the two girls with them. Both were short range fighters, which was not going to help here. While he preferred that kind of combat too, he also had his buster arm to cover range. Items were not going to help with the long shaft in front of them. If they were in the Maverick Hunters, they wouldn't have been allowed on a mission without ranged back-up weapons. One of the hazards of using a volunteer fighting force. But now he could understand why they pressed on.

While X brought his buster up, he didn't immediately fire. "What are your intentions with this missile?" he asked. He added for the sake of the two others, " _Be careful in revealing what we know."_

" _Okay, and she doesn't have an SFM,"_ Cinnamon noted. She was adapting well.

Ferham sniffed. "Well, you've seen it, so there should be no harm." She waved her right hand around in a circle. "It's not a weapon. It's a learning aide to dispel the willfully ignorant. But people like you," she clenched her fist, "are the ones enforcing that ignorance. I suppose that you don't even know about it."

As she spoke, Zero noticed that the immediate temperature seemed to have dropped like a rock. But not inside the shaft; inside his body, frost crystals began forming and growing. They got into his leg joints, trying to make it hard for him to move. A glance around showed that his companions were likely getting the same treatment.

" _This ice is invading?"_ Marino asked.

" _Don't panic,"_ X replied; he still had his eyes on Ferham, assessing her.

The Rebellion Cadre kept talking. "I might tell you about it. Or I might watch you turn to panic and pain when you realize that I'm causing frostbite to invade the insides of your body as well as the outsides. I could kill one of you without you being…"

X interrupted her by firing his buster at her chest. The invading frost promptly stopped and Zero's systems worked to restore his normal operating temperature and humidity. "We don't see how any missile can be a learning tool," X said. "This is explicitly a weapons missile." He fired at Ferham again, although she dodged that time. " _Zero, back me up and force her to keep dodging; that ice power requires concentration."_ Speaking as if he hadn't sent a transmission, X went on, "And if you fire it, the world government will reply with drastic actions which will delete all of us where we stand."

" _There's a small network screen here,"_ Marino noted. At the edge of his vision, Zero saw her slipping behind Cinnamon towards the wall. " _Want me to see if I can get anything?"_

"You're just bluffing, blue boy," Ferham said. "You must know that you're in trouble, at my mercy in this space. I could teach you if you think otherwise." She brought out that EM whip and was going to aim at X. Zero interrupted her by firing his Z-buster just to the right of her wing. While it did keep her from the attack, she shot him a nasty glare.

" _Be careful about it, but go ahead,"_ X replied to Marino. And then to Ferham, "You have an enforced personality, don't you? You can drop it if you want. That was badly forced."

There was a momentary pause from her before she grumbled, "Lucky guess. Not that it matters much to you." She started up a standard ice attack; Zero fired at her so that at least her aim would be off.

"Actually, it does matter," X said. "Because Lagrano did that to you. Are you following Dr. Lagrano's plans or did Epsilon…?"

"Of course we're not following that ******* bastard's plans!" she screamed, her body tense enough to tremble and momentarily disrupt her hover engines. Ferham recovered her position in the air quickly, though. "I'm disappointed that he died randomly instead of being brought to us for execution. I'm sure an exemption could have been made."

For a moment, Zero felt some sympathy with her. He knew enough from X to know that Dr. Lagrano had been a rotten scientist. Knowing a few rotten scientists himself (and a deviously manipulative one too…), he wouldn't blame her for lashing out at the suggestion. It was interesting what she said about an exemption. Maybe X could turn this situation about. Zero kept his buster active, but watched her to start an attack before doing anything.

X nodded; he would understand about that too. "I see. It was something I was concerned about because he was hiding his true purposes and I've been trying to research what he was doing. So then what do you intend to do with this missile?"

" _What are you trying to do?"_ Nana asked.

Zero transmitted the answer back to her. " _Negotiate them into not firing the missile at least."_

" _They're still doing work on the missile, so we feasibly have enough time for this,"_ Marino added. " _Looks like they've got at least three hours to go. Want some better specs, Professor?"_

" _Sure, go ahead."_

While they were at that, Ferham had decided to talk to them. "This rocket is loaded with a high quantity of supra-force metal. It will make some damage, but nothing significant. More importantly, it will enlighten the masses of passive reploids out there."

" _Marino, would you send me a message from that screen? I can make a link into the silo's system through that."_

"I'm not sure enlighten is the right word," X said, careful in picking his words. "The released force of an exploding force metal often corrupts electronics. It could turn a high number of reploids in the target area into FM Mavericks."

" _Right away, Nana."_

"The weak ones who ought to be culled anyhow," Ferham retorted. "Those who receive this experience well will find that their limitations are broken. They'll be able to develop however they want, not however they're expected to."

" _Didn't they say that they were trying to help all reploids?"_ Cinnamon asked partway through the Cadre's response.

" _Ask that of her,"_ X said, probably calculating that it would be received better from the younger reploid.

Biting her lip and trying to avoid nodding (and tipping their opponent off about the silent exchanges going on), Cinnamon spoke up, "But uh, Miss Ferham, isn't the Rebellion supposed to be helping all reploids? Not just the strong ones."

However, she seemed to have internally glossed over that inconsistency. "It will help all reploids to improve everyone, even if some fail and must be eliminated. We'll all be better off in the end."

"But what about those that you are sacrificing?" X countered. "It's going to cause chaos and violence from those that can't handle the energy release. And from observing incidents of this happening, I think a very high number of reploids will turn Maverick from this."

"It is necessary!" Ferham insisted. Then there was a flash of blue light as her whip lashed out at X, knocking him back. There was a strong snap in the air as it made contact. "We won't make progress unless…"

Clang! A work arm came dropped from the wall near where she was hovering and knocked into Ferham's head. From a snicker to the side, Zero could guess that it was Marino's doing. He fired while she was dazed, striking her left wing and blowing off a good chunk of it. With a scream of fright, Ferham dropped out of the air, crashing into the floor of the missile silo.

"Sorry, but she attacked first," Marino said. Right as she spoke, a silver haze filled the air near them. A force field had activated on this platform, keeping them from getting further into the silo.

"That she did," X said. The platform then began to pull back into the wall. "Let's get out of here." He limped back through the door, so Zero made sure he and the two girls got out before he left the silo. " _Nana, are you in the silo's network yet?"_

" _Give me a few minutes,"_ the operator replied.

Cinnamon put her hand on X's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'm numb down my right leg, but I can recover from that," he replied. One of the other doors opened up, letting in four Preons. "Get them; I'm fine right here."

* * *

 

The supra-force metal out in the missile was tempting. And terrifying. Luna sat by herself in the command room, partly watching Ferham dealing with the Resistance, and partly watching other parts of the area. Botos was down on the floor of the silo, observing but not yet interfering. And while she was alone, the narwhal reploid felt like she wanted to take the metal out of the warhead. It would give her so much power. But, that power would totally consume her.

"You deserve to be consumed," a dark voice spoke, directly into her head. "Change the world; kill your inner self to be filled with the power of darkness."

She trembled and checked the security readings. It reported no audio disruption of anyone speaking in the command room. So, the voice wasn't there. No, it was there, just in her head. It was that force metal, she knew. She ought to get rid of it.

"I will tear out your soul and rip it to shreds if you do so, you piece of krill."

And it would. She knew absolutely that it would. Trying to distract herself, Luna went back to watching the conversation between Ferham and the four Resistance members. She had just about knocked out X in one shot when one of them, somehow in the computer system, knocked a work arm into Ferham. Zero then shot out her wing, causing her to crash. Frantic, Luna cut off the platform to keep them from pursuing her commander to her death. Wait, no, that wasn't enough. She requested that the platform be removed. There. That should take care of them.

She then switched the screen's view to the bottom of the silo. Ferham was conscious, muttering to herself. As he was already down there, Botos floated over. "Bad turn of luck there, eh Ferham?"

She shot him a harsh look. "I didn't see you trying to help any," she snapped, trying to get back onto her feet. "You should have been keeping them out of here."

"Things change, plans changes," he replied, waving his hand as if it were insignificant. "Speaking of changing plans, I recently received a new order from Epsilon. He wants us to take the SFM out of the warhead and bring it back to base."

Although she had to lean against the wall, Ferham did manage to get up fully. Luna felt impressed. She wished she could be that strong and independent minded. "What? That doesn't make any sense. Why would he do that?"

"We need to keep the metal out of the hands of the Resistance. And they're already here. You don't look capable of flight right now, so give me the other warhead key and I'll handle things." He was trying to sound reassuring. But even from the command room, Luna could tell that something was fishy about the offer. Mostly because she knew how his offers went. Botos still owed her a favor, especially with the inappropriate manner in which he'd tried to return it.

"You can't do that," Ferham replied, clutching her fist to her chest. "We installed the key into my body. You'd need Scarface's permission to get it. Besides, it'll work out just the same if we both leave now, as they can't get into the warhead." She started to look up, seeing if the Resistance group was watching.

"Ferham," Botos said in an alarmingly intimidating voice, narrowing his eyes at her. "I will have that key." Then he attacked her, ramming her into the wall to stun her. He pulled out an orange plasma knife… when did he get that weapon? He used it to cut a large hole into Ferham's chest. She screamed, but a sound attack seemed to render her immobile.

Up in the command room, Luna felt her body turn frigid. He was capable of doing that? But, but he'd never seemed that violent before. Maybe he had flaunted bending then breaking the rules Epsilon set down, but Botos hadn't made a betrayal like that. And what was he going to do with her, knowing that she had witnessed the attack? Or did he realize that she was in here? What was going to happen?

"He is following the will of the darkness," the devilish voice in her head said, trying to sound intriguing. "He will do whatever he wishes soon. But you, you coward, you are going to be consumed by the darkness soon. Can't you feel it?"

Something slimy seemed to be on her arm. When she looked, there was an oily black leech there. It would dissolve her body from the inside until there was nothing left but a frail shell. It squelched into her body, followed by several others that she could feel. Luna tried to rip it off, but it got out of her grasp like water.

The door from the command room to the silo opened without warning. Shaking now, Luna looked but no one came in or out! At least, no one that she could see. It was that invisible killer; maybe it had planted the leeches on her. So it had to be an agent of the darkness.

What now, what now? Luna looked about frantically, then noticed something terrible. The Resistance group was heading right for the command room of the silo. Hadn't she locked those doors? She tried to get the doors to the room itself locked securely. However, that order was blocked. Someone with a higher authority in the system was controlling things now. She kept trying in any way she could think of. It had to work! Something had to work…

Zero dashed into the room, followed by the other three. "Hold it right there!" he shouted.

Whirling around in her chair, she saw his face, then screamed.

* * *

 

The time to act was now. He had seen what had gone on in the bottom of the shaft from the mission control room. And the narwhal girl seemed to be heading into a panic, so he didn't bother distracting her while he went through the door. He did take a moment to pull a panel off the wall and tear out some vital wires. The door's light turned red, automatically locking it as something was wrong. Then he carefully wall-jumped up to the next level, where the warhead was. A large circular grate platform surrounded the tip of the missile, to allow work on it to be done by non-flight units.

As he arrived, so did Botos. He held a box in his right hand, both dripping with dark red oil. That didn't prevent the key from sending out its unlocking signal, accompanied by a similar one from Botos. To another order, the red cone of the missile split in quarters, coming down to reveal what lay inside. It was that famed supra-force metal.

And this sample was both large and potent. It was an oval shaped growth of almost pure crystals, around a foot across the long way. Much of it was a milky white, but parts were more transparent, or with hints of peach and gray. Its power was so great that he could feel it resonating in the force metals that he was wearing. This was exactly what he had been playing his long game for.

But he held his hand while Botos was unlatching it from the missile. The rotund brown reploid was grinning like a manic. "Finally, I've got it all to myself," he said, greed tinting his voice with excitement. "Epsilon and all the others are fools, trying to spread the power around to everyone. Most of the numbskulls and nitwits out there won't have half an idea of what to do with it, and those that do won't be much stronger than before. Such a waste.

"But they don't matter anymore. I've dealt with those idealistic lofty views for long enough. It doesn't matter what happens to the others. They're all weak. Only the strongest deserve to rule. And with this metal, any reploid could be could be strong enough to be like a god!" He undid the final latch.

It was time. "That is an excellent idea," he said, activating his current weapons.

Botos yelped, shocked that anyone else was up here. He spun around to look, but would only see a pair of yellow plasma blades hovering in the air. "Wha-wha-what? Who are you?"

That fear was so enticing. He grinned; it had been far too long since he had done something like this. "A killer," he said in a thrill. He then struck hard and fast, ripping into Botos much faster and much messier than his victim had just done to Ferham.

As fun as it was, he didn't have much time.

* * *

 

The one girl left in the command room had gone into hysterics. Marino found it odd; weren't much of the Rebellion supposed to be military types or mercenaries? Maybe this one wasn't trained as well. The silo door was locked inexplicably, so they had to deal with her.

After his initial comment had set her off, Zero had backed off to watch for Preons. X came forward to try calming her down, even reverting from his buster arm to do so. "Miss, what's going on?" he asked gently.

"We're all going to get killed!" she shouted, shaking one arm as if trying to throw something off.

" _X, she has a demon metal equipped,"_ Cinnamon said, coming over to the narwhal reploid by X.

A demon. That's what she called the corrupted ones. Marino bit her lip. She probably had good reason to react like this, then. There were a few disjointed memories she had of things that should be impossible, but she had fully believed in due to the influence of the corrupted Alertness metal.

" _What should we do about it?"_ X asked.

" _I'm not sure; I don't know if anyone's recovered an FM Maverick before."_

" _Ask Palei, if she's still around,"_ Marino suggested. " _She's dealt with reploids like this."_

" _I'm getting her patched into my access line,"_ Nana said.

Then they got a message that was labeled as being from Nana, but must have been Palei. " _You'll need to get her to remove any and all force metals she's wearing, being careful of the corrupted one. Bring her back with you; she'll need time to get over their influence and she should be restrained or closely watched."_

" _Thanks,"_ X replied. "We can help you," he said, kneeling down by her chair to seem less threatening. "I'm X; who are you?"

"Everybody's trying to kill each other," the girl said instead, bursting into tears and speaking in fear. "Are you here to kill me?"

" _Sounds like the old days,"_ Zero commented.

" _Right,"_ X said. "No, we're not. We'd rather help you. Just trust us and cooperate, okay? Who are you?"

She glanced around, leaning back in her chair as if to make herself smaller. "L-Luna Narwhale." Her eyes widened. "Oh, you're… I was thinking of leaving, really! Epsilon and the others weren't living up to their promises; I should have stayed in the oceans. But I thought they were really going to help. Are you sure you're not going to kill me?"

"I'm sure; the Resistance isn't like that," he replied. "We do have to take you into protective custody if you surrender to us."

Luna rubbed her eyes, but still looked afraid. "Ye-yeah, that's okay, I guess. But watch out for the invisible killer, and these leeches." She rubbed her arms together. "Can you do something about them?"

" _It could be a delusion,"_ Marino said.

" _I know,"_ X said, taking out his handheld scanner from a pocket and using it on her. "I'll see what I can do," he said. "But I'd like you to take off your force metals, please."

Jerking her hand away, she became anxious again. "I can't do that! I mean, most of them I can give you. But there's one that will destroy me if I take it off. But that's the one that makes me see things, like the parasites. You won't be able to see them."

Marino wondered if she had been irrational like this. Most likely. She was snapped out of those thoughts when she saw Zero tense up. Moments later, Cinnamon did the same. " _The SFM has vanished!"_ she reported.

Zero left the room. " _Can that elevator get me up to the warhead's level?"_ he asked, probably of Nana. " _I'm certain that it is gone, but I want to see what's there."_

" _I've got that taken care of, just go up to level B3."_

Cinnamon looked as though she might go after him, but decided to stay here with Luna. Deciding she might be a better help here too, Marino came over to the other three. X was trying to talk her into giving her metals up. "There might be a problem with one," he finished with.

"I know there's a problem," Luna said, gripping the edges of her chair tightly. "But it will kill me."

"It's only telling you that so that you keep it on," Marino said. "It can't actually do that."

"But it's making leeches eat my insides; it could kill me either way. I don't want it, but I can't…" she started breathing hard, although it sounded like it was all nerves, not an actual physical ailment.

" _I don't think it will kill her, but it's already done some damage to her thought processes,"_ X noted. " _It might be repairable, but that'll take a deeper analysis to know for certain."_

While it was a bit risky, Marino came over and sat in a chair by Luna. "If it's one of those dark and corrupted force metals, than it's a dirty rotten liar," she said, as she might when talking to a friend. "I was controlled by one for a time, but I came clean. So I know they'll lie, cheat, and tempt you so that you'll keep them on no matter what."

X gave her a brief look, perhaps to see if she was lying or not. On the other hand, Cinnamon looked shocked. "Oh, you had a demon once?" she asked.

"Yeah, and it made months of my life into a living nightmare," she said. "You can get back a normal life, though, but first you have to take off all your force metals and go without them for a few weeks."

"B-but it…" Luna tried to protest.

"That's how they ruin you," she interrupted. "The corrupted ones get you to need them, and to need even more, but what they're really doing is destroying you slowly. You have to get rid of them. That'll dismiss the leeches it called on you too." She wasn't sure, but if it was all in her head due to the demon metal, then it would work out to be truth.

"Oh, that would be good…" she slid back a cover on her arm to reveal that she had seven equipped, including two jammed in extension slots to equip more than the standard four. Luna managed to put her hand to one of the extensions, but hesitated, shaking. "Um…"

"I'll help," Marino said, slipping the extension with three metals in it. Luna winced, but then that seemed to encourage her enough to start trying to pull the other extension out. After handing the extension over to X, she pried another metal out. But as soon as Marino made contact with it, she knew this was the corrupted one. It had a greasy feel, like something corrosive and unnatural. Quickly, she placed it on the counter of the security panel, out of Luna's reach. "That's the one," she told the other two. "Be very careful in handling it."

"Right," X said. He glanced around, then opened up a translucent drawer to pull out a small plastic box. He went over to put the demon metal inside it, to be destroyed later.

" _We're going to need the security data from the past half hour, maybe just ten minutes,"_ Zero reported from the silo, presumably. _"Botos is dead; whoever got him was extremely violent about it. And it looks like someone attacked Ferham as well. There's a part that looks like hers up here, but she's nowhere around. And from how abruptly the SFM went missing, it had to be someone who could teleport directly out of here."_

" _It would have to be a Rebellion member to do that,"_ Nana replied. " _There's still a screen against that I haven't gotten around to removing. I will get the security data feed for you."_

"I feel sick," Luna said, her face clenching up as if trying to suppress a queasy reaction.

Marino gripped the narwhal girl's arm. "Yeah, this part is awful," she said. "We can get you to sleep when we get back to Central, right?"

"Sure, that shouldn't be a problem," Cinnamon said. She put her hands on Luna's shoulder. "Maybe I can help too. I'll see how things are."

"Thanks." She sighed. "I shouldn't have left the ocean; it was all a terrible mistake. Oh, but there's some invisible killer around. I know it's here; it went in the silo after Botos attacked Ferham."

"He did that?" X asked.

"Attacked his own teammate?" Cinnamon said, distracting herself from looking over Luna. "That's horrible."

"Botos is an awful slimy worm," Luna said, spiteful but not hateful. "But I wasn't expecting that either. He's always acted like such a coward, playing the flattery card all the time. Ugh…"

"Don't get yourself too worked up," the nurse reploid said. Her hands glowed. "I can do some healing, but you'll have to go see a friend of mine for better care."

" _Nana, when you can, take Luna, Cinnamon, and Marino back,"_ X said. " _I'll stay here with Zero and we'll investigate what happened with the SFM and the missile."_

" _Will do,"_ the operator replied. " _Whenever you girls are ready, let me know."_

* * *

 

As important as their mission was, Axl and Butler had a long distance to cross before they could accomplish anything. They spent much of the time talking with each other, first on the boat and its capabilities. Technically, Axl couldn't tell his friend everything, but he could let him drive for a few miles. The craft had been made fairly easy to operate in some regards, but full use of it required special training courses.

Then they drifted to various other subjects. Like planning lavish dinners. "Geez, it sounds unfair that you'd have to memorize this system for matching wines with foods, but then you can't consume much of either," Axl said.

"I suppose so," Butler said. "And I would always check with the household chef before finalizing anything, as he was a human and knew such things better. But it is rewarding when you do really well and people compliment you on it. A butler is supposed to be stoic about it and just nod politely, but it made me happy to see others happy."

"Well then I couldn't manage," he said, chuckling at himself. "I couldn't keep a straight face for anything. Especially not poker. A few of the guys tried to teach me, but bluffing can be really hard."

"I can be stoic, and I have been, but I like being open and friendly more than that. When I could be informal around the kids, I loved that."

Axl looked over the scanner's numbers. They seemed to be at the edge of the data embargo. A little further out and they should be fine. "I bet. Did you ever do fancy dinners with the kids."

From the sound of his voice, he seemed to be smiling. "Oh, yes. Miss Cindy always loved to play tea party and she convinced me into it more often than not."

"Oh really, a tea party?" he said teasingly. "Pretend or real?"

"Both kinds, actually. If her father wasn't home, I'd brew some real tea for her, and sometimes get some cookies from the chef. If he was home, or if there wasn't time to get everything together, then it was all pretend. The dolls had to be involved, of course. It was fun, actually, balancing out that Cindy wanted it to be proper, but making it fun for her too."

"Aw, that's sweet," Axl said. After a moment's thought, he added, "Do you want to go back to that after this?"

"I'm not sure," he said, as the reminiscing turned sad. "It was good being a butler and I enjoyed the people… most of them, at least. But I also like what I can do now, protect others. I suppose I'll just have to see later on."

"I see. It's your decision, but I'm sure we can get you a recommendation into the Maverick Hunters if you like." He glanced at the screen. "Okay, we should be good for contacting others now."

"Do you need me to cut the speed?" He looked worriedly at the controls, made for regular sized hands, not his oversized armor gloves.

Axl shook his head. "Nah, we can manage." He pulled out the drive X had given him and plugged it into the communications port.

As usual, his elder had given clear and precise directions on the drive, even the obvious stuff. He had explained it a few times as 'Consider the obvious and the unobvious, so that nothing will be missed'. Given how vital this was to an entire city's survival, Axl would go with X on this one. He went through the steps one by one, making sure that he made contact with the government network, then making sure that X's passwords had gone through properly. He didn't want to nose around too much here, but he knew a few flags that X used to check for site tampering. Seeing that they were in place, he knew he was doing things right.

And it looked as though X was right. The government was looking into using erasure bombs over all of Giga City. After putting the objection in, Axl waited on the site in order to see it update. The message caused the entire process to halt and back up nearly to the beginning. It seemed that a committee would come together to discuss the objection and what to do about it. Good. Axl followed the final instructions on logging out of the government network.

"Okay, that's done," he said. "We won't have to worry about the government's actions for a while now." He came over and touched the braking handle. "I am going to slow us down and try to get a teleport to base. I don't want to delay that any longer."

"Sure," Butler said, stepping aside and back so that Axl could take control again.

It took a few minutes, but he arranged to get the ship teleported from the open ocean to the entrance of the base port. Axl sent in his identification numbers, as well as the Black Gull's. Once the gates were down, he steered it into an empty slot. But there was something odd going on. He held up his hand, signaling Butler to be cautious, before opening the door and leaving. His friend was puzzled, but took the silent order seriously.

There was no one in the dock area. True, the ships weren't used as much as other vehicles, but there should have been somebody down here. At least a security or maintenance mechaniloid. But no, nothing.

"Something doesn't seem right around here," he said quietly. He went over to a communications station, but found it completely shut and locked down. Seeing that, he looked to the security lights. They were innocent looking panels of colored squares that would seem like a decoration to any outsider. The pattern indicated that the base was on a normal level of security and no problems were known. However, it wasn't reassuring.

"Shouldn't they have sent someone down to check on us?" Butler asked. His lance was stored on a slot on one arm, but he seemed watchful.

"Yeah, as soon as we requested the teleport." He led the way to an elevator set into a nook. "It's a bit complicated getting around here," Axl explained. "To make the base harder to invade. I'll get us up to a building transporter." And then where should he go? His first thought was to go up to the area where Unit 17 was currently stationed. He knew he could trust X's followers, and they would be willing to give him news on what was going on.

While they rode up, Axl tried accessing the base PA system through the elevator's speaker. He got silence in response, which didn't help his nerves at all. It would have to be a really quiet day in order for nothing to be on the PA system. When he made a request for recent news, he should have gotten an update about the day's activities. Instead, he got news from a week ago and nothing more recent.

He tapped his head, an unconscious action he did when accessing his external viral scanner. He had it sweep out as far as it could. Really, that would make sense of the silence. All three of them had been gone and it would be a prime moment for the Mavericks to make a large attack. But he got nothing. Besides, if the base had been infected, there should have been a signal in the security lights.

The door opened up at their stop, revealing a female that was pointing two guns at them. "Stay there," she said in warning.

Bringing his hands up without his guns, Axl said, "Whoa, Palette, it's okay. It's me. And a friend; this is Butler from Giga City. We came to check in."

Palette took a deep breath, but eyed them warily. Especially Axl. "I know it's you," she said, keeping the guns up. "And that's a problem right now. What did you come back for?"

"X sent us back to stop the government from dropping erasure bombs over Giga City," he explained, noticing that this wasn't a time to joke around. "And to let you guys know that he isn't dead. He, Zero, and I are working with a group called the Resistance, including Butler here. They're reclaiming Giga City from the Rebellion and hold no ill will against humanity or anyone. And there are a lot of civilian reploids left in the city. We can't let the bombing go through or there will be more innocent deaths than who's left in the Rebellion."

For a moment, she closed her eyes, thinking. Then she looked back to them, lowering her guns. "So he is alive?"

He nodded. "Yeah; the leaders of the Resistance rescued and repaired him."

Palette then came into the elevator and sent them back down to the docks. "All right. I'm sorry about this Axl. I want to trust you, but things have gotten complicated. I don't want to explain until you bring me to X and Zero. Will you take me back to Giga City?"

"Uh, sure," he said.

"But why won't you trust him?" Butler asked, concerned.

She looked right to Axl. "You're under suspicion, that's all I'll say for now. You guys teleported here with a boat, right?" When he confirmed that, she added, "I can get you back to that point; just let me contact Alia and let her know that I am going. She can get them to hold off on the bombing; it was still in deliberation and an objection came up unexpectedly minutes ago. Was that your doing?"

"Right," Axl said. "We had to get out of the data embargo to do that."

"Well then you have a few days to prove the accusations wrong." She bit her lip. "But even if you do end up being cleared, things are going to stay complicated."


	28. The Shapeshifter Quandry

Back in Grave Ruins, a repair pod closed up over Ferham. Once it settled her in, she spoke with the one who had helped her here. "Thanks, Scarface."

"You're welcome; you should be fine." She heard a thump. He was probably frustrated. "If Botos wasn't dead, then I would kill him for this."

Dead? "Who killed him?"

There was a pause. "We're not sure, but according to the tapes, we think it's that shapeshifter, Axl. He wasn't with the group and we know that he can turn invisible like that. And he took the SFM for them. It was a really underhanded trick. They probably did it to make sure that they stay looking clean."

"Luna was talking about an invisible killer." Maybe she should have believed her. "And they killed her too?"

"No; they conned her into surrendering. This is not good."

He might do something rash if I don't stop him, she thought. But she had to be in repair. "Don't be reckless, darling. Listen to Epsilon. I'm sure that he has plans for this. We may have to start all over again, but we can do it if we stick together."

"Don't worry, Ferham. I won't be disloyal to him, or you." There was a tapping sound on the pod. "You just rest. I'll take care of you. And when you come out, we might even get some time to spend together, on our way out."

"I know. I don't want anything to happen to you before that, which is why I'm worried. Promise me that you won't do anything rash."

"I won't, I promise. Now will you rest and heal up?"

She smiled. "Yes. I'll be waiting for you, Scarface."

* * *

 

X, Zero, and Chief R met in the command room to discuss what had happened in the missile silo. "Dr. Palei believes that Luna Narwhale can be recovered," R said. "Marino and Cinnamon were able to give her a partial interview."

"And what did you find from her?" X asked.

R tapped the edge of the console he was at, thinking. "It seems that the Rebellion has been dysfunctional for some time now. Epsilon is their stated leader, but many of his followers have become disillusioned in him, seeing him as naïve, counterproductive, and much too idealistic. Certainly too trusting; Botos was something of a leader to the dissenters, openly defying Epsilon's words when he was out of view of the most loyal followers. He made everyone appear to be loyal while rallying them up to a more violent uprising. Epsilon himself seems to have tried a mostly peaceful effort."

"Except that he saw fit to have us executed," Zero pointed out.

"That was after the government declared them all Mavericks," X said. "Possibly due more to Botos' actions than Epsilon's. But with the traitor dead, we still have to deal with Epsilon and Scarface. Ferham too; we didn't find any more trace of her on the scene."

"She seems to have teleported out after Botos attacked her," R said, activating some video feeds. "And it seems that Luna was right about there being an invisible killer. This is the footage we have of Botos' death." It played through him getting the SFM out of the warhead, but then being attacked by someone only noticeable by two yellow plasma blades. Waiting, R paused at one moment, as the killer took the SFM out of the missile. "And right here, the invisibility power fails for a few seconds, allowing us to see her. Nana has identified her as Katelyn Knife, a Lagrano reploid."

"That should be impossible," Zero said. "I eliminated her myself, when was it, three years ago?"

X nodded. "Right, you took down her and her twin Roselyn Rifle. And due to their degraded condition, we made certain that their bodies were incinerated. But look… if you don't mind me messing with the video."

"Go ahead," he said, moving his chair away so X could get to the control panel.

"This method of invisibility is significant," he said, showing the moments 'Katelyn' became visible and went invisible again. There was a white glow around her body when it happened. "It is particular to the next-gen design with the copy chip function. If I can get some more data…" he started putting commands into the computer, having the hologram projector display stats.

"There aren't many next-gens left," Zero pointed out. "The great majority of them died during Lumine's insurrection. We know where Axl is, and he gets constant psychological screenings and support so that we know he wouldn't attack someone like this. Other survivors have also agreed to keep up with that program or undergo extensive operations to eliminate the copy chip abilities, including the invisibility."

R closed his eyes. "I believe that Lagrano Industries had done some experimentation with the next-gen design. And with as secretive as they were, they would not have registered any reploid built with that template." He looked over at X's work.

"From this, it does seem to be a next-gen." X nodded. "And I think I know which one it is, if it is a Lagrano reploid. Given that he is copying another one, it would be reasonable."

"He?" R asked.

"Deo Midas," he replied.

The tactician looked uncomfortable. "Deo Midas? Aile is noted as being the one to destroy him. Then again, he did confide to me at various points that he wasn't entirely sure what happened in that battle. That was when he went into force metal overload and was paralyzed. His memory of that incident was scrambled, but everyone had accepted proof of Midas' death."

"Yes, it was Aile and Spider that had taken on Deo Midas," X said. "I never got a clear explanation out of the latter about what happened during that battle, and I only heard bits of it from the former. Midas was reported as a trickster, a killer who had no qualms about lethally stealing identities of dozens of reploids. He would be entirely capable of faking his own death in order to go about unnoticed and unregistered. From what I've researched on the case, I think that's what happened."

"And so now this rogue next-gen is out with a supra-force metal and no hesitation to kill?" Zero asked.

"This case may pass out of your hands, R," X said. "We know that we can use satellite data to find the SFM. But before we have time to do that, we have to deal with the remainder of the Rebellion. There is just one more district to reclaim. If Epsilon and his followers flee, then we can arrange things with the government for you to take over officially as Giga City Governor."

He nodded. "All right. And thanks for staying on with us for this final battle. It means a lot to us."

"It would be bad form to duck out now," X said. "Although we will have to leave immediately after the embargo and this battle ends to get down to tracking the SFM thief. One reploid with that much power on hand is extremely dangerous." He paused. "Which leads to a more immediate problem. My research into Lagrano Industries has given me some bad news. Dr. Lagrano was the first to develop the supra-force metal technology, everything from building a large crystal to concentrating all that power. And he used those metals as power cores for reploids."

"An SFM power core?" R asked.

"Palei tipped me off about it. However, the SFM core project was mostly a failure. The reploids could not handle so much power and became unbalanced, or outright malfunctioned and died of complications. That is, all but Epsilon. He survived activation and he passed several intelligence, psychological, and other mental tests.

"But it seems that he may have been too intelligent and that he suffered from some kind of physical malfunction. I couldn't get what it was specifically, but he turned against Lagrano and set up the Rebellion because of the SFM core experiments. He has immense power and may have been restraining himself when we fought him on top of Lagrano Tower. This is going to be an extremely dangerous battle, and that's not even considering who or what we'll have to go through in order to reach Epsilon. Those who are loyal to him seem to be extremely loyal."

"We'll want to wait for Axl and Butler to get back, then?" Zero asked.

"Right."

"Palei was also speaking about offering your squad upgrades," R said. "She said that she had left trusted workers at Ulfat to work on them. That could help."

"Yes, and we will likely need any help we can get," X said.

From the center of the command room, Nana turned her head to them. "X, Axl and Massimo have returned."

"Already?" he asked. "I wasn't expecting them back for several hours."

"They brought along someone else from the Hunters," she said. "Palette. They'd like to come up here if possible."

X closed the security footage, but left the projector active. "Sure; any problems with that?"

R shook his head. "It'd be good to hear what they've found out. Let them up."

"Right away." The city operator turned back to her duties.

Moments later, Massimo, Axl, then Palette came into the command room. X was about to greet her when she sent him a security question by personal transmission. It was a system put in place after Lumine's insurrection, that if the identity of certain people came into question, a specific question and answer exchange could ascertain who it was. After automatically answering the proper answer (there was a whole series of these things based on who was asking and who was answering, to make it harder for fakes to slip through), he noticed that Zero had gotten the question too.

And Axl, who looked quizzically at the field operator. "Palette? What is going on?"

She looked relieved. "Oh, craziness. I had some doubts, but I wanted to make sure. It's good to see that you're alive, X."

He nodded. "Thanks. This here is Chief R, leader of the Resistance; I'm sure Axl told you about it." He pointed to the orange-clad reploid with them. "And this is Palette, one of the mission support personnel who works with the three of us. Nana's over there, but she's working and she can hear anybody anywhere. I trust the both of them, so unless it's really sensitive, we can talk about it here. Take a seat."

"Okay." She shook hands with R. "Good to know about you."

"Good to meet you, m'am."

Palette and Axl sat down while Massimo observed from where he was standing. "We had a suspicious but serious series of events at the Tokyo base," she started. Glancing at Zero and Axl, she went on, "It was a surprise when both of you took off, although we did expect to lose you, Zero. We had quite a time explaining things about that, but it went over fairly smoothly. That is, until we received reports that suggested that Axl was a traitor looking to bring the Maverick Hunters down."

"Seriously?" Axl asked. "I wouldn't do that."

"That's how I felt, but I had to go along with it being a possibility," Palette said. "The story went that you had arranged to get X killed, or had done it yourself. All three of you were here in Giga City around that time. I had an issue with it due to when I met with you after you returned. Knowing how long it takes to get between Giga City and Tokyo when teleportation is unreliable, I knew that there must have been only a small window of time, just a few minutes, when all three of you were there. And you were in a whole different district from them.

"But that wasn't it. The report said that you had encouraged Zero's departure in agreeing to leave with him, in order to either kill him too or manipulate him into working with you against the Hunters. This also linked you into the Rebellion, and possibly into having been involved in Lumine's plans even though you were fighting against him. There were some people even suggesting that he had killed you and had been pretending to be you ever since."

"Oh, so that's why you weren't going to trust me until I brought you to both of them," Axl said. And why she had given them all the identity check at once. "That's pretty crazy, but I could see how they would believe it."

"I wouldn't believe in the theory that Lumine replaced Axl," X said. "Unless he's really good at acting ignorant when I'm talking about engineering around him."

"That and Lumine was lousy with small arms like his pistols," Zero commented.

Palette nodded. "Yeah, we would have noticed an abrupt change like that. So me and several others didn't fully believe this story, but as standard procedure, we had to consider it a possibility. We looked into things and found some troubling trends. If Axl isn't the problem, then we have evidence that suggests that Redips is." She brought out a data drive. "Not only was he involved in getting you three out to Giga City when the Rebellion had traps ready for you, but he was also one of the main supporters of the theory that Axl or Lumine as Axl was behind this conflict in Giga City. But he's also in charge of the Tokyo base, and things have changed drastically since you three left."

After asking silently, X took the data drive. He was making some connections in his head, between the Rebellion's dysfunctions to the next-gen SFM thief to this potential problem with Redips. It all added up to something deeply troubling. But, he had given his word and he did need to protect the citizens of this city by dealing with the remains of the Rebellion. "This will likely be a lot of trouble," he said. "But we should inform you of what's going on here and what needs to be taken care of before we can return. We've driven the Rebellion into a corner, potentially making them desperate, so I don't want to leave the Resistance to take the brunt of that if we leave to take care of things at Tokyo. That, and there's another criminal out there who is going to cause a lot of chaos."

And it could all be connected…

* * *

 

Everyone was gearing up for a major battle. It was looking to be the last too, and a difficult one given that they were attacking Grave Ruins Base. In earlier days, no one had quite been sure why this military facility had been built into the residential district of Freesia. Lagrano Industries had put it there, presumably for the defense of the city and for training of military personnel. Now it had been proven that this was the headquarters of the Rebellion, where its leader was hiding. Nearly everyone in the Resistance was going to be mobilized, as the remains of the other faction would all be concentrated there. It would be a numbers against skill battle, but they did have the three Hunters on their side.

Butler had expected to feel nervous about this, even scared. They were going into a dangerous facility to face off against the Rebellion leader. And from X's research, Epsilon would be extraordinarily strong thanks to his SFM core. He would have been trained well too. Because he had been part of X's squad from the beginning, it was expected that Steel Massimo would go along with him this time too.

However, he felt resolved to see this through to the finish. Yes, it was intimidating for someone like him to come up against a power like that. But they almost had Giga City free and it wouldn't do to give up now. It also helped to have spoken with Axl during the boat trip and how he had to be continually screened to remain in the Maverick Hunters. But he did it so that he could be a hero and do great things for the good of everyone. If he could do that for years, then Butler could certainly set aside his fears to fight this last battle.

There were some giggles from nearby. Butler glanced over and saw a few of the reploid kids nearby, trying not to appear like they were looking at him. With them was that particular girl, Annette. They really were like the human children, he thought, and all children deserved to grow up into a happy life. None of them deserved to be cut down early, like Cindy had. Maybe afterwards, he could see about getting a memorial site made for all those who had died in this conflict, both humans like the old governor, Mrs. Lagrano, and Cindy, and the reploids like his mentor Steel Massimo. Surely he could get many others to agree to this.

The kids then came up to him in curiosity. "Hey mister, is it true that you're Steel Massimo, but without the armor?" a boy asked.

Smiling down at them, he nodded. "Yes, that's true. I'm Butler; don't be getting into trouble."

"We're not," the boy said. "It's just weird, cause I thought you'd look just as tough without it."

"Oh, I'm tough all right," he said jokingly, patting the boy's head. "I just hide it really well."

"I still think Axl's cooler," one of the other boys said.

"No he's not," the first one insisted. "That's cause nobody's cooler than Zero. You're pretty cool too, but Zero is pure awesome. Bye!" Most of them ran off.

Except Annette. "Sorry bout them," she said. "But they wouldn't believe me."

"That's okay," he said gently to her. "Are you doing all right?"

"Yeah," she replied, swaying a bit as if she had something on her mind. "I heard that you're going after Epsilon next. That sounds scary."

"It is," he admitted. "But we can't quit when the end is in sight. Besides, he has to learn what happens when you make people suffer without cause."

"Right, he should have been a good person like he said he was. Oh, um," she paused, then pulled out a pink hair ribbon from her pocket. It was similar to the green one she was wearing currently. "Would you um take my ribbon with you, for good luck? You've been nice to me, so I want you to come back safe."

It wasn't anything more than a decorative piece. Then again, it would be a nice reminder of the people he was fighting for, and it wouldn't be in the way. Butler took it. "Sure, thank you. A little good luck can go a long way. And I'll bring this back to you when it's all over, I promise."

Annette's face turned pink, although she was smiling. "Thanks, Butler. I, uh… see you later." She ran off shyly to be with her friends.

"See you later, Annette," he called back. It didn't really matter what they thought of him in the end. What mattered was that they would turn out to be good reploids who stood up for what was right. And people like him had to set a good example of that.

* * *

 

Cinnamon was in the lab her father worked in while they were with the Resistance. It wasn't quite as interesting as the labs back home in the forest district. Back home, there were plants everywhere, and natural designs to every room and hall. Here, it was a gray and white room with windows out to the blue sky and a work plaza down below. There was an adjustable work table that could function as a repair bed or as a build station. A pod against one wall could repair or run deep scans, while the engineering station on the opposite wall was made for a regular humanoid reploid. Fortunately, the chair was adjustable too, so that Gaudile could work comfortably.

"It will be nice to get back to my own labs soon, and see how the repairs are going myself," Gaudile said, doing some light work on the computer. "I don't think we lost anything vital, but I need to be there physically to make sure about certain items, especially in the biological sample library."

"Nana says it's okay, so it should be fine," Cinnamon said, sitting in a chair by the engineering station. "Are you gonna build her an assistant?"

"Co-worker's more like it, but I'm seriously considering it," he said, rubbing his bill with his real hand and using one of his support arms to work the computer. "After realizing how much work that girl does on a daily basis, and for such long hours… it'll take some adjustment for her to have another reploid or two able to act as city operator, but it should be better for her overall."

She smiled, resting her arms against the edge of the station. "Make sure that they can all be friends. It's better to work with friends." Even those that were different about it, like Zero.

"Of course. Although, I had hoped to get back to work on designing a guardian unit for you." He smiled, although his eyes seemed a bit sad. "But with the way you've changed over this, you might not even need one. I never meant for you to be on the front lines of a battle, but everyone seems impressed with your work."

"I'm not as good as the others, but I do my best." She swung her feet a little. "Like when we were in Melda Ore Plant and we ran into Ferham in the silo. She was flying, so Marino and I couldn't reach her; X and Zero both had guns, so they were okay. And Marino got into their computer. I couldn't do much there, though."

"But you stayed brave and stuck with the others. I'm glad that you convinced me to work here, even if I was being a stubborn geezer about it." Gaudile patted her hand with one of his support arms. "There are things that we must do, even if we are reluctant to do them."

Cinnamon clasped that false hand. "Yeah. We will make things better." Then something occurred to her, causing her to sit up. "Oh, and if you still want a guardian for me, why don't we ask Marino to be one?"

"Marino?" he asked, puzzled.

She nodded. "Yeah. I was talking to her a little while ago and it turns out that she wasn't designed to be a thief. She was made to be a bodyguard, blending in with groups and keeping her human owner safe. But then, as you heard, she ran into one of the demon metals and it ruined her life. She had continued to cling to being a thief, kind of thinking that she couldn't go back into a respectable job. But I like her, and her experience as a thief would let her counter them better." She chuckled a little. "So she could help; she mentioned that she wasn't sure what she was going to do after the Rebellion is gone. And we could help her by accepting her."

The Professor paused in his work. "Well if it is more bluffing than a real desire for stealing, I suppose she has shown herself possibly trustworthy."

"Only possibly?" she teased.

That made him chuckle too. "I only have your safety and well being in mind. But then… I have been considering that it really isn't fair for me to expect one of my children to be exactly as I planned them out. Who you are should be your choice. Even if I can make these girls to be optimal for the city operator position, it wouldn't be right to force them into it. Anybody should have the right to change, especially from a corrupted state like Marino, and that new girl Luna." He nodded. "All right, we'll talk with her about it later and see if she wants to take on the job. Unless you'd rather not have a guardian."

"Well I'm not that good of a fighter," she said cheerily. "It'll help me in healing and helping others if I know someone is watching out for me at my side. We'll see what Marino wants to do." She was quiet for a bit, in considering things that weren't quite so cheerful. "Although, once this fight is over, X and the others will be leaving Giga City. That's sad to think on."

"It is," he agreed. "I am glad to have met them in person, though. It's good to know that even if they are living legends, they do what they do for the sake of folks like us who'd rather not fight, whether reploid or human." He sighed. "My worldview got skewed in living and working under Hiram Lagrano. I thought no one else was interested in doing good things for the sake of being good and nothing else. Maybe I do need to get out of Giga City for a while and see how things really are."

"That could be fun," Cinnamon said, perking up.

"Possibly. But we do have to focus on taking the Freesia district now. Be careful, Cinnamon, and listen to X while you're gone."

"I will," she said. Then she giggled. "Oh, you know, I was so worried about him being mad at me for making him sleep so long after we got back from Vanallia. Especially since as soon as he got up, he found himself having to deal with two threats from different sources. But then he found me as I was coming up here. Apparently he knew it was my doing, but had given me a test to see if I could focus on the more immediate problems in battle by not saying a word about it while we were in Melda."

"Oh really? Was he mad about it?"

She shook his head. "No. X said that he understood my reasoning and that I was only concerned about him. And having that downtime to clear his mind and exhaustion had helped. But then he told me to just tell him directly if it comes up again instead of trying to trick him. He also told me that there'll be many times when life will throw multiple problems at you and you have to know how to focus to take on one problem at a time rather than trying to solve everything at once. If one issue isn't as immediate as another, then you have to put it aside to solve what's at hand."

"Ah. That is a good thing to learn. Although, it does sound like he was dealing with multiple problems there."

"Well he's so smart," she pointed out. "He seems to know something about everything, but he doesn't act like he's superior because of that. Unlike Dr. Psyche. He thought that he was the greatest reploid around because he knew so much."

"That's how he's always been," Gaudile said, thinking over some old memory.

Cinnamon scratched her head. "Zero's a good person too, once you earn his trust. But maybe he really has been hurt badly before and that's why he doesn't want to. I think I'd miss Axl the most, though. He's the easiest to get along with of the three of them, because he acts much closer to a regular person. He's funny and sweet, and I like talking with him. I hope I can keep in contact with them after they leave. That would be great."

"It would be," he replied, although he seemed preoccupied with some sudden thought.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Oh, it's nothing too serious. I just worry about you because you're my daughter and I love you. I hate to think of you getting hurt… and this battle seems too near."

"I love you too, dad," she said, leaning over to hug him. "I'll be sure to come back to you, I promise."

Gaudile patted her back. "I'll be here waiting, and supporting you from here."

* * *

 

Zero had found that the best way to be ready for action but out of the way was to be at the helipad. As there weren't many flights actually coming in to Giga City, it wasn't seeing much of its intended use. It wasn't visited much by others, partly due to the restrictions in coming into the Governor's Precinct itself. Lately, what people did come out here were usually looking for him. And it was close to the command center, which made it a better choice than other quiet areas such as the human habitation levels and the sea docks.

So when he called for X to meet up with him, he didn't say where. And it hadn't taken long for X to come out to the helipad. "What's up? Did you want in on the planning for invading the Freesia district?"

"If you want my help," he said. "I was down with the civilian forces just now. They're getting all excited."

X smiled. "No need to sound apathetic about it. They can see the end of their conflict, so of course they're excited. Because Chief R will be taking command of the city, there should be no problems with a power vacuum. I say, let them be happy."

"It's far from over for us," he reminded him.

That did cause X to turn serious, making Zero feel a bit guilty about saying it. "Right. I'll have to get out of a mindset of holding back so much."

"And while I was down there, I found one of the Resistance engineers, Saffron. She was selling off some specialized gear."

"I know. They need to get money to cover repair work. Nana says the city can handle most of it through recycling, but they will need to pay the workers here as well as bring in new supplies."

He nodded, then brought his hand up. In that hand, he had a large blade handle, nearly five times heavier than the Z-rapier that X had made him. It was ribbed most of the way along the handle, with a counterweight on one end. "I bought some stuff off her. Remember how I've been looking for a heavy blade I liked?"

"That certainly looks heavy," X said, looking over its design.

"Check it out." He activated the blade itself. In an unusual style, it had a ghostly mist look instead of regular glowing plasma. It was an earthy tan, but strange letters glowed red along the eight foot long blade.

"That's a really unique look. I wonder how she got it like that. Does it take regular plasma batteries?"

Zero nodded. "It does. The blade's active the whole length too, so it has a long sweeping range. Excellent balance too. It does slow my swing down, but it's got more than enough power to make up for that. She calls it the Soul Blade; good enough." He shut it off, then picked up a box off the ledge. "Found something for you too. Called a Turbo Buster."

"I do well enough with my standard weapon," X said, his usual response to this kind of offer. But he did take the box and open it up.

"You do good work on it, but I think you'll like this one." Zero knew that X preferred peace to war, and that he was reluctant to take new weapons. But he also knew that despite this, his friend did love to see new designs and could overcome his usual reluctance if the weapon in question were interesting enough. He thought this one would work.

X pulled out another weapon that was unique in design. Unlike most busters, this one lacked an external cover, leaving much of its workings exposed to the air. He immediately tapped against one of the support structures, getting a faint white energy shell to appear. "Huh. It must use air for part of its process, but it has a defense shield against dirt or attacks. And this… would it fire off special weapons energy? No, but maybe it's affected…" he mumbled something else as he examined it.

Without saying anything, Zero smiled. It was always funny to see him go all technical and geeky over weapons that he liked. Not to mention the fact that he got flustered whenever someone pointed it out to him. X brought up his standard buster, then slotted the Turbo Buster over its end. That was one of the nice things about that particular weapon style; one didn't have to tinker with the internal parts in order to upgrade it. Although X tended to tinker with his anyhow.

"Nice, huh?" he finally asked.

X brought it up and fired off a bright blue burst into the sky. "It's a bit overkill for most situations," he said. "It adds more power with the more weapons energy the user has stored up. Plus, it's really lightweight, so it hardly affects regular speed while increasing regular attack power before the WE boost. But if we're dealing with users of strong force metals, it should help. Thanks."

He nodded. "So how is the planning going?"

"The Rebellion is gearing up for a conflict too, but I think Epsilon is still holding them back," he replied, looking off to the southeast. "That may not last. Still, with what I've been learning, it's a pity that I can't meet with Epsilon before battle. It seems like he might have been open to discussion and debate before he got labeled a Maverick." He paused. "Were you in on that discussion? I wasn't."

"No."

X crossed his arms over his chest. "I think Redips was. I don't have access to the network now, so I can't double check that. And he did ultimately send us all three here, possibly with an intent of getting rid of us."

"Does that mean he's part of the Rebellion?" Zero asked.

"I don't think so. That's partly why I'd like to speak with Epsilon. That, and he seems like he should be a reasonable character, although he made the mistake of trusting greedy and power-hungry individuals. I want to know who he really is, and if he believes in his ideals of self-actualization and the ability to change."

"His followers seem to believe in power more than that."

"Yeah." Then X smiled some. "But you know what? I think a lot of people are turning his ideals about force metals into realities. Like Butler."

"Him?"

"Yeah, he's actually a really good example of it." He paused, probably to arrange his points. "He's part of a production line of high quality servant reploids, meant to follow his master's wishes and help run a large household. Someone like a butler is not supposed to have much of an assertive individual personality, and is to stay in the background to make things run smoothly. But with force metals and his own desire to protect others, he's someone that we can rely on in battle, operating one of the best military support armors currently running. He's still a mostly agreeable person, but I can tell that he would step up and take a stand on his own."

"And he does it in memory of humans that he knew," Zero said. When X gave him a curious look, he added, "I overheard the others talking. So they don't necessarily have to be against humans; that'd be the tough point to get through to them."

"It could be," he agreed.

It was quiet between them for a minute. X was probably still thinking through things. Zero was too, considering how all the events might match up. It seemed unlikely, but the timing of everything was suspicious. And if Redips was arranging things… Zero looked to X. "Is there any part of the puzzle you haven't revealed yet?"

He laughed. "What, you don't trust me Zero?"

Smirking, he replied, "I know I can trust your words. But you don't always say everything that's on your mind."

X nonchalantly stretched his arms up and twisted some, as if loosening up from a lot of desk work. It would have seemed nonchalant except that Zero saw that his eyes were too alert. One of those plays, then? Zero readied himself to remain in the same causal manner (because Nana really could see anywhere).

"It's about Spider."

* * *

 

There were certain thrills to being a thief. The lure of an object, the anticipation of the planning, the moments of struggle with the unexpected, the thrill of going unnoticed, and then the success in not just getting the item, but getting away. In the end, it didn't really matter what the object was. The steal itself was the whole purpose.

Then again, Marino realized there were thrills to being a hero too. It involved being noticed and recognized, which meant that it was more easily (and safely) acknowledged. People noticed a hero doing a great act, and they reacted with gratitude and admiration. Surprisingly, she found herself liking it better that stealing. Of course, a major plus of it was that this life didn't involve being possessed by a corruptive force metal.

Another difference was in the people that one got mad. Even if a victim of thievery would be angered, asking for justice, he or she was usually a normal person. When she fought on the side of justice, the ones she angered were unhinged and exceptionally dangerous. Thank goodness that she wasn't alone in this.

Marino rubbed her chin. "Wonder if X'll pursue my records after this," she mused quietly to herself. Having seen him in action, that did not look to be a good prospect. Should she be upfront with him about it, or would he let it slide?

Hearing an elevator ding behind her, she stopped walking to see who it was. Axl came out, pulling a cart loaded with a pair of black weapons cases. He was accompanied by a duo of Belladonnas and Palei. Then engineer waved to her. "Oh good, hello Marino. Is the group gathering at the plaza?"

"As far as I know," she said. "But I'm not responsible for the rest of them." Then she grinned and poked Axl in the shoulder. "Good thing you got a handsome young fellow to help you out."

"The Belladonnas seemed to be having some trouble with it due to their small hands," Axl said.

"We were working out a system for it," one of them protested.

"I appreciate the help," Palei said, sounding calm but having that mischievous twinkle to her eyes. "I hope you'll help me with Zero too."

The Hunter looked to her quizzically. "Zero? What about him?"

"Oh, I think I'm going to make him mad," she said, now playfully walking with a bounce to her step. "I can't say for sure, but there's a strong possibility that he might reject the offering I have for him."

"What?" Axl asked, seeming shocked. "You don't want to get Zero mad at you; you should be careful and try to soften anything that might do that."

"She has a game of annoying and defying people," Marino commented. "But you may be ticking off a bigger threat than usual here."

She chuckled. "I might be. Well if I end up in a thousand pieces, tell him that I'm probably sorry about it."

They emerged from the green tunnels to an open-air plaza that was out of the way. Usually a place for maintenance work, it wasn't as pretty as other areas. But the group had gathered here. Massimo, Professor Gaudile, and Cinnamon were all chatting with each other, while X and Zero were off to the side discussing something with R. Now even more curious (what would get Zero mad?), Marino couldn't wait to see what was going to happen.

Palei waved to the group of them to gather. "Hey everyone. I wanted to say that I got through with upgrading the standard weapons, thanks to Gaudile working on the armors already. Excellent craftsmanship as always." Then, she loosened her helmet to pull it off and place it on the cart.

"Oh yes, of course," the Professor said, but seemed mystified that she would do that out here.

Because that uncovered her breathing support machine, which the others quickly recognized for what it was. "You're actually a human?" Axl asked.

"What are you still doing here?" R asked, although his voice had a gentle concern to it. "I thought all of you were accounted for."

"She's been living undercover, more or less, for several years now," Marino said.

Palei nodded. "Right. And I technically don't live in Giga City, even when the Rebellion started acting out. I have an underwater base and haven't been persuaded to leave just yet." She gestured to the cases. "But like I was saying, since I had time, I did some work for your group as well. Although," she chuckled again, "I have had projects around for X and Zero for years, back when I was working as Amanda Morrison."

"I remember you now," Zero said. "The only reason you got away with annoying the upper management was because X covered for you."

X nodded, smiling in amusement. "Yes, this is her. She was asked to do some upgrades for us, but wanted to work on the lower ranked Hunters first. You always had a way of doing your best work while defying authority."

"I don't mean trouble, not always," she said, teasingly. "But I gave my word and I did finally complete Meteor and Holy. It's a full armor upgrade, not a Hyper form." She pulled not two, but three data drives out. The first she gave to X. "I still call this the Meteor Armor, because it should hit like one."

"Oh, I get Meteor?" he asked, taking it.

"Right, because Holy is for Zero." She grinned while she handed the second to him. "Although I named it the Absolute Zero armor."

Marino laughed at that, along with a few others. Zero had a look of not being impressed as he took his. "Fine, so long as it works."

"I also got a third project modified in time for this," Palei said, handing the third to Cinnamon. "Here, I felt that you could use something more defensive for the battlefield. It's named the Iron Maiden armor."

"Okay," Cinnamon said, accepting it.

"I don't know about that name," the Professor said.

Palei just patted his head. "Don't worry about it; there's no spikes involved. There's an armor changing station in the maintenance room over there; I've got the three armors loaded in the system, and those are the keys to accessing them. After you try it on, you can store them however you prefer."

"You go on first, Cinnamon," X offered.

"Are you sure?" she asked. When he nodded, she smiled. "All right, I'll go change." She hurried off to the maintenance room to look for the changing station.

Palei took a small case off the large one. "And then, I made a new weapon for Massimo. Butler, your heavy lance works nicely for when you're unarmored, as it fits with the general purpose behind a lance. But with that battle armor, it doesn't take full advantage of its potential strength. Your predecessor appears to have used a heavyweight class beam saber, but even that doesn't seem quite ideal. So I tried to figure out something that could work, but would work similarly enough to the lance that you wouldn't have trouble adapting. Here you are, the Jet Lance." She pulled up a long handle out of the case.

Even seeing just that part of it, it looked to have a lot more weight to it than his old lances. Butler went over and picked up the new lance himself. The handle was thick and black, with a metallic conical counterweight on one end. At the business end of the lance, there was a large spike made up of five support rods connected by concave sides; grooves and holes along the supports indicated that this could generate an edge of weapon plasma. The lance head itself seemed like it could be bigger than Cinnamon's torso.

Butler shifted the lance around until he found a good hold for it, then gave a test flicker of the green plasma edges. "Wow… I don't think I'd be able to lift this without the armor."

"Probably not," she said. "A lot of reploid fighters don't always take into account how dangerous blunt force can be, but this weapon will damage even if it's swung without the edges and doesn't hit point on. But if you need to focus the force to break through tough materials, the option is there. The lance head itself, if the plasma is active, can also act as a makeshift shield to catch energy attacks so that you or someone else doesn't take the brunt of it."

"I see. Thanks, I should be able to handle this."

Palei touched his arm. "That's not it, though. Three's a twist switch here," she patted his left hand, which was closer to the lance head. "That changes the weapon's mode. But I'd rather you get clear of the rest of the equipment, and us, before you go activating that."

"Ah, okay," Butler replied, sounding surprised. He skated away from the group, the activated the switch. At that command, the shaft extended itself, while the head tilted to his right. Two support rods shifted down, to let the three others extend outward. The plasma also activated itself, forming a long blade around the extension. Overall, the effect was alike a massive scythe.

"That's called the Jet Guillotine," Palei said. "It's still a combat-damage weapon, but it now has a very wide range when you swing it, likely taking out multiple enemies at once. Hold it at a more downward angle… yeah, like that. Just be aware of your surroundings and the positions of your allies when you use it."

"That's really cool," Axl said, admiring the weapon from where he was.

"It's a bit scary," Butler said, shifting it back to lance mode.

"It should be effective for how she described it," Zero commented.

"I know it's a bit scary," Palei said. "That's why I only let those I trust have my better weapons designs. I believe that you'll use it fairly and properly once you have some practice."

There was that thing about trust again. She liked to invent things, but didn't let those she didn't trust have the best items. As long as she'd worked with her, Marino hadn't been 'trusted' with much. Then again, given that they had met as a FM Maverick and a curious engineer, there was good reason to keep a healthy distrust.

At that point, Cinnamon came back outside. Like Palei had said, there were no spikes involved in the Iron Maiden Armor. But it was quite an interesting metallic grayscale color scheme that seemed like it was made of iron. It was either a plastic or a metal alloy, not pure iron. While thicker in places, it was still an attractive armor that leaned towards being cute; it still kept her winged hair ornament, even emphasizing the angelic aspect of that.

"Hey, looking good there," Marino called out, smiling.

"Thanks!" she said, slowing as she got to the group. Her footfalls didn't sound much different, which was interesting given that the armor looked heavier than her normal suit.

There was some silent exchange between X and Zero, given the hand signals they seemed to be using. After a second, X nodded and headed off towards the maintenance room to try out his armor.

"Does it fit you all right?" Palei asked, coming over. "You should check out your full movements before going into battle with it, to make sure that it's comfortable."

"It fits great," Cinnamon said, looking down over herself. "Feels normal in one way, but then it's very different in others. Like it's heavier, but it doesn't seem to affect me much."

"That's great." The human engineer patted her right arm. "I also gave you a basic buster gun with this armor… well, I wanted to, but your systems operate differently enough from most reploids that I had to adjust things to get it to work right. Here, it's thought activated, so just call it out… yeah, you got it."

"What was the trouble you had?" Gaudile asked, curious about it. He had been studying the armor himself, and Marino could tell that he was impressed with it. Hopefully, he'd accept it.

"Her design can't use a plasma charger to keep a constant ammunitions source." She pointed out a section that seemed to show what she was talking about. "So she would either have to charge an ammunitions casing between battles, or the system I tried out. She has been using the FME for an unfocused ranged attack instead of creating force metals at times."

"I can't do that much," Cinnamon said. "And it's hard to aim it."

She nodded and tapped the buster unit. "Well this solves those problems. This taps into your FME store to form the bullets. It should have an efficient enough converter that the use is minimal; you'll just have to eat some more basic materials for conversion after lengthy battles or missions. And the plasma quality produced should be different than standard buster fire, according to my calculations. Here, aim at that dumpster." She pointed out one of the large green metal bins by the wall. "Those should be tough enough to take a few basic shots."

"Okay!" Cinnamon thought for a moment, probably reviewing data that came with the armor. Then she brought her gun arm up, aimed at one dumpster, and fired. A white comet-like burst came from the gun, striking the corner.

Gaudile chuckled. "It does look to be of excellent work, Amanda. Would you mind sharing the data and blueprints of that armor with me?"

"Not at all," she said, beaming. "I'll get those sent to your lab's network later today. All right then, Axl…"

"Yes?" he asked, turning to her.

She pulled another data drive out of the pocket. "I'm sorry to say that I didn't really have time to work on any items for you. But I do have a few things to give you still. First of all, I heard that you were looking into next-gen work that was done here in Giga City."

He nodded. "Right, I'm trying to track down whoever first invented it, and made me."

"People have been looking into that for a long time," she said. "Whoever it was is really good at covering tracks. But, I do know something of interest. It wasn't the Melda group who worked with that technology. It was Lagrano Electronics Lab. However, I am almost certain that it was not the work of Dr. Lagrano himself."

Guadile shook his head. "Oh gosh, we would know it if Lagrano had. It was out before he founded his company, after all."

Palei twisted the drive in her fingers. "But the inventor of the copy chip and other next-gen technology might have worked for Dr. Lagrano. Someone who knew it extremely well was working there, at least. Unfortunately, Gaudile and I weren't in the organization enough to know who it was. I know who would know, though: William Weil."

"Who's that?" Axl asked.

"One of Lagrano's students, more or less. He joined the company early as an intern and worked his way up to assistant engineer to Hiram himself. And I'm pretty sure that Weil is still alive, so it's just a matter of tracking him down once we can access the world networks again. Oh, and these are for you." She finally handed over the drive. "I do know some of your technology myself from my time in the Maverick Hunters, so these would be two forms for your A-Trans ability."

"Oh, thanks," he said, checking it before attaching it.

"Those are two Lagrano designs," she explained. "One is Rafflesian, which was my main project there. The other is Ninetales, a somewhat infamous project."

"Somewhat?" R asked. "Ninetales was nightmare when he was active and loose. We had to hire a team of skilled mercenaries and let them borrow highly sophisticated weapons in order to bring him down. But while the Governor suggested calling in your group," he glanced towards Zero, "Dr. Lagrano shot down the idea and said that those in Giga City should try first, so that we didn't get overly dependent on outside forces."

"It's a nice idea, but not if you're dealing with a menace," Zero said.

"Especially with this kind of power," Axl said, his eyes unfocused as he was reviewing the data. "He seems like a highly efficient fighter."

"And that's lacking his powers of illusion, creating puppets to fight for him," Palei pointed out. "Oh, and they're both styled to be battle dancers, so I hope you can adapt to that."

"That's no problem," he said, then frowned. "Hey wait… Rafflesian's that girl who wants to be a pop star, right? What's she doing with this kind of power charging? Wow that can get insane fast…"

Palei looked disappointed. "I wasn't the one who designed her battle capabilities. I was more concerned about getting a reploid leader for the Belladonna clan. But yes, she can charge enough energy that it becomes dangerous, potentially making her unhinged, and you if you copy that ability. Just don't charge for more than five rounds; that's the safety limit. She's asked me to cut back on her capabilities, actually, so that she has a better shot at her dreams. So don't worry; you shouldn't be facing Raffie as a Maverick any time soon."

"You'll find that kind of thing with many of us who were built in the Lagrano Labs," Gaudile said, waving his auxiliary arms nervously. "There were times when I'd make a weapons design that was pushing the legal limits and he would ask me to make it more powerful in some fashion. I often wondered what he was thinking in that. In that way, it's almost better that he's gone now."

"Hiram Lagrano was a dangerous individual," X said, having come up on them unexpectedly. "He had intentions for war, but I'm still finding out things about him."

"Whoa, X!" Marino said, mockingly playing up her surprise. "Watch it with the sneaking about… wait, how do you sneak about in armor like that?"

"The same way you sneak around in that bright red armor of yours," he replied, making the others laugh.

And his armor was certainly unique, and hard to not notice now that the others had their attentions on him. The Meteor armor was mostly white, although several lights appeared in various places. There were fins coming off the back of his legs and a targeting eye piece was over his right eye. As the helmet wasn't as full as his usual one, his black hair showed in spots. Most obviously different was a collar piece that was rather large, a saucer like form that had a white bottom piece and a clear top piece, sitting over his back. Inside, there were various electronics showing, although it was hard to tell what was functional and what was decorative.

"That's definitely one of your stranger armors," Axl said, amused by it.

"It has a silent hover," X said brightly, lifting off the ground by half a foot. Then he brought up one of his arms; both had long slim weapon barrels attached. Recognizing that one, Marino stepped back some. "And I take back what I said about the Turbo Buster, Zero. This thing is overkill." He fired the one he had up off into the sky, sending a golden beam of energy out.

"Well then, I hope there's no satellite in that beam's path," Marino teased him.

"That has more power than that gun?" Zero asked.

X nodded, putting the barrel down. "Both are functional, and they can be combined for a shorter ranged burst. And there's missiles in here. And shrapnel grenades, both of which can be manufactured in here," he lifted his arm without the weapon, to tap the saucer collar, "so it has a higher ammunition count than one would expect."

"Sounds like something you could raze an enemy base with," Zero said, although he seemed to approve of it. So what did Palei think would anger him? Marino still wondered about it as he went off into the maintenance room.

"Yeah," X said, sounding oddly calm. "We'll have to get you hired into the Maverick Hunters again, Amanda."

"Oh, why's that?" she asked.

"If you're making this kind of technology, I want to know where you are," he stated.

"Sure enough," Palei said, smiling. "Tis best not to let dangerously active minds wander. It seems you've got that armor figured out already, so I'll leave it to you to make sure everything's working properly. You might also help Cinnamon figure out a few things; she has a buster now. So that just leaves Marino." She picked up the smaller case that had been on top of Massimo's weapon. "I did make something for you too."

"Well that's sweet of you," Marino said, partly joking. She didn't expect anything like the others. It was that issue of trust.

"And here it is." She pulled out an ornate hairband, which appeared to be made of wood. Eight tan pins, about the thickness of a crayon, stuck out of the top half, while a fan of smaller spikes spread across the bottom. In the center, there was a rounded white gem. At the seven feet Marino was standing from her, it appeared like a butterfly.

"Hey, that's pretty," she said, coming over.

"Isn't it?" Palei asked, sounding pleased. "But it isn't quite as it seems to be. Watch this."

At that, she squeezed one of the tan pins to pull it out of place. It really seemed to be no bigger than a crayon. But then Palei activated something, forming a small green plasma blade from one end. It was probably eight inches long, and it only lasted a few seconds.

Caught by surprise, Marino looked at the thing for a moment. "What… are those all hidden blades there?"

"Yup," Palei said, putting the tiny blade back in place. "I was fascinated by your hairband blade holder, remember? And I wanted to make an improvement on it. However, there is a minimum size for most plasma blades, and the mechanisms can't be made any smaller. But I figured, a lot of the space is taken up by the plasma converter. I took it out and placed it in the hairpiece itself," she turned the hairband so that they could see that it was thick under the butterfly wings. "Then the problem becomes that the pins can't hold enough plasma energy to form a permanent blade. They last around five to eight seconds, charge for about the same time, and you have to be really careful how you hold the pins when using them."

"Wow," she said, utterly fascinated by it. She'd never thought she'd see a blade from a handle so tiny. "But your enemy would hardly see it coming, maybe even not see it at all if it was used fast enough."

"And you're more than fast enough. There's still more: check this out." She pulled off one of the spiked fans from the bottom. It had a solid form along the inner curve, but there was an open slot in it. "Now this I haven't gotten even decent in using, so keep clear while I try this again."

Once she stepped away from the group, Palei activated this hidden weapon. A green disc appeared within the slot. She then flicked her wrist in a way to fling the plasma disc away. Since she'd thrown it at the edge, the disc grazed against the railing and left a groove. The mark didn't stand out too much, as some of the Resistance members had practiced out here.

"Oh, that's so cool," Axl said. "You've got plasma shruikens now."

"Never thought I'd see that," Marino said. "And you're giving that to me?"

"Of course," Palei said, slotting the shruiken thrower back. "You've progressed a long ways since I first brought you into my lab. And based on what I saw in you interacting with Luna, I'm sure that I can trust you with something like this now. I'm very proud of you, Marino, and I'm glad that you stuck with the program. With this, I'm releasing you from our service agreement." She handed the hairband over.

Months ago, she would have been relieved to come out of that agreement. It restricted what she could do and what kinds of steals she could make. But now that she was free, she felt glad to have proven herself, and quietly sad to know that her regular contact with Palei might be up. "Aww… thanks Palei, or Amanda," she said, taking the band then hugging her. "Thanks for all that you've done for me."

"You're welcome," she said, patting her back. "I'm sure you can handle things on your own now."

When she stepped back, Marino was blushing a bit at having made a scene like that in front of the others. But it didn't last long, thankfully, as Zero came back outside. He didn't seem quite mad, but the dark look on his face indicated that this wasn't the time to push your luck with him. Part of it may have been the Absolute Zero Armor's form. It wasn't bad, but it was edging towards tacky. Mostly black, it had bat wings on the back, streaked with glowing blue and violet lines, all icy in tone. It also had fins on the helmet, and noticeable claws on the hands and feet. Marino had to wonder how that had come out of a project called Holy.

"This looks ridiculous," Zero said bluntly. "More so than that one." He indicated X's armor.

Palei stayed cheerful, in a way that said she was amused by his distaste. "Ah yes, it was a victim of form follows function. I like it."

"So then that would be a flying melee based armor?" X asked, after only a quick look.

"Unarmed melee, yes," she said. She pointed out the claws. "Although there is a cold energy quick burst function to the claws, it doesn't need a separate weapon. It's got more than the usual amount of strength and speed boosting systems in it. Normally, that kind of boost level, with that particular format, is tough to design around; there is an overheating problem that can turn dangerous to the user. I balanced that by adding a cryogenic fluid generator to disperse internal heat build up, which necessitated the addition of the fins and wings there. Since that system had to be deep anyhow, I added a winged flight module and hooked that into the boosters too. So you end up with a fast, highly mobile, and powerful armor. The actual defenses in that are not as strong as Meteor's, but that fits how you actually fight."

"So have you trained in aerial unarmed combat?" Axl said in a teasing voice. From the look of amusement on his and X's faces, it was probably some in-joke with them.

"Of course," Zero said as if it was an obvious thing to train in. He looked back over the claws and flexed a fist. "I still say it looks ridiculous. But if it works… and it had better."

"I've run test experiments on the designs, but made for the Belladonnas," Palei said. "They should be fine. And, I did get a good part of the design ideas from your creator's files."

"You did?" X asked, turning to her curiously.

"Seriously?" Zero asked, his irritation at the design look sharpening.

She nodded. "Yeah, there was a photo in there labeled Bass and Gospel which looked a lot like that. Not exactly, and I did all the configuring, programming, and building myself, well, me and the girl crew," she indicated the three Belladonnas who all smiled at this. "I made sure it wouldn't be anything disruptive."

"There will be a large and difficult battle shortly," X pointed out. "See how it works for you and then decide."

"Fine, I'll give it a shot," Zero said. He then jumped into the air to test out how it flew.

"We do have several hours before we'll be ready to move out," the squad leader went on. "So go ahead and test everything. And thank you, Dr. Palei, for taking the time for us."

"It was an honor," she said, smiling.


	29. When Giants Duel

This time, their briefing took place in the back stage area of the auditorium. Other members of the Resistance were gathering in the auditorium itself, in preparation for a large scale battle. Nana and Palette were up in the command room; the former had her usual duties, while the latter would help by supporting those in the battle. While R would be joining them to also overview things, he was here to speak with everyone first.

"The Freesia District is mainly residential," R said, with a holo-map for demonstration. "Nana has picked up on defensive measures that the Rebellion has put up and some recent battle preparations, so we know where conflicts are likely to arise. Due to housing laws, Grave Ruins is some distance from the other structures." He pointed out a heavily armored complex in the northeast of Freesia. "This place is made to test the limits of combat reploids. At least, that's what it is on paper. We have found out that it is a fully functioning military base despite its relative small size and it would perform its stated functions, if one were trying to get through without permission. We haven't been able to make progress on taking control through the computers.

"We have located two sources of SFM material. One appears to be emitting from Epsilon's power core; the other is here, in this warehouse. As both are currently located in the central part of the base, we've identified three entrances and paths that can be taken to reach that area. They're all lined with traps or mechaniloid guardians. However, it seems that most of the reploid fighters and many of the mechaniloids have been dispatched outside in the past fifteen minutes. Some of our forces will be sent into the residential islands to link them back to the city network, so that we will control those areas. More will be sent to fight this force outside of the base.

"And your squad is to get into the base, see if you can get a console linked up to us, and capture or eliminate Epsilon. At this point, I would recommend the capture of Epsilon, Scarface, and Ferham over their destruction. If we can get proof that Botos and others had been disobeying orders and the Rebellion's original plans much less violent, then the global justice system may be a better option for dealing with them."

Having already looked over the plans, X pointed out one of the paths. "I believe this will be our optimal route," he said. "This warehouse has the nearest console in relations to the entrance and it has fewer built in traps. This path over here, starting at the training entrance, has many traps and mechaniloid guards, and its console is much too deep in and off the path to the center area to be practical. And this one, from the front door," he smiled a bit, "I have half a mind to send Zero and Axl in that way to raise a ruckus. It will split our forces up, but they will have to split their forces as well to deal with both sides. Once we get a foothold into the base's network with Nana and Palette, then things will shift in our favor even divided. But I'd rather see the situation up front before deciding."

"Who's leading the group outside the base?" Axl asked. "Epsilon or someone else? Botos is dead."

"We're not certain," R said. "Whatever way we view this scenario, whether they are misunderstood or truly violent, it makes sense for them to defend themselves now that they're down to one location."

X was looking over the base's floor plans. "I have a feeling that the group outside isn't listening to Epsilon's orders," he said, tracing some areas in thought. "He was built to be a strategist and a capable fighter. Even if we account for a certain lack of experience due to his age, I would guess that he would not have sent them outside Grave Ruins. The base is already a challenge, but if he kept them all inside, it would become a very tough nut to crack."

"We should also watch for if they attempt to escape while we're inside the base," Zero said. "Can the Resistance fighters outside take down an escape vessel?"

R nodded. "We have weaponry capable of doing that, and Nana has already set up a teleport screen around the area. It will be possible to teleport within the enclosed area, but not in or out unless permission from myself is granted. And if they happen to try using a rocket, Central Tower is equipped with cannons that could knock it into the ocean."

"And I'm sure Palette won't miss an escape attempt," X said. "Now either Marino or I can get into the console and link up to Nana, so we should be fine there. The warehouse path is occupied mostly by Preons, both basic and advanced models. With the new gear we have, it shouldn't be a major problem. But the two Cadres and Epsilon, they could be tough." He paused. "They're not viral Mavericks as far as we can tell; there's no viral energy detected around the city. That gives us a chance to convince them to surrender. If they do fight, they could be tougher than the other Rebellion warriors we've fought so far. Don't let your guard down."

* * *

 

It was another time where it was too bad that he couldn't use Spider's form. Not only was he supposedly dead, but he'd supposedly died fighting the Rebellion. Never mind that Spider's actual death was several years ago… a good many of his other forms were animalists, many threatening looking. There was the generic GC male model Ochre, but he wouldn't command enough respect with this Rebellion rabble.

In the end, he had to approach them as Botos, even though that bot was the epitome of lame in many ways. "Word of my death has been greatly exaggerated," he said to the group of commanders that were left. They weren't really important people, just the surviving squad leaders that would never be able to crack into Epsilon's inner circle. This made them vulnerable to Botos' manipulations, both the real reploid and the shapeshifter mimicking him.

"Were they trying to get rid of you?" one of the men asked. "I've suspected that Ferham would organize that."

He shrugged. "It's hard to say now, but I suspect it too. The thing is, Epsilon still has vital information that we need to succeed where he failed and that pesky Resistance is going to be pouncing on us before long. I need you lot to slow them down while I go in and have a little talk with Epsilon." He smirked, although it wasn't as noticeable on this non-standard reploid. "And don't worry; we have the technology to reconstruct all of you based on back-up information. We haven't put much priority to such operations yet due to hoping that other plans would work. But once we find a new base, I'm sure I can arrange for all of you to be at or near the top of the list."

On hearing that assurance, the group all nodded. The fools. Yes, reploids could be rebuilt based on certain remains, but that required those remains to be collected. And, he knew precisely how to kill a reploid to guarantee that he or she would be unrecoverable. Even if Epsilon made an effort to recover fallen comrades, the current Botos doubted that this lot would be of any consideration.

"We'll handle the Resistance fighters," one said.

"Yeah, we've been itching for some action for a long time now," another said. "It stinks to be restrained to this place."

"I know exactly how you feel," Botos said, convincing because he was being honest. At least for that statement. "And it is vital that they don't reach Epsilon. Do whatever it takes to stop them, and if you get caught in a corner, be sure to take down as many as possible. That will be certain to get you honors when revived." Rather, it was more likely to get them the dislike of Epsilon, not respect.

But he just needed them to agree, and run out to get their forces ready for battle. That would get them outside of Grave Ruins Base, giving him more freedom in getting around in there. Another piece of the plan was in there, another sample of the SFM that he needed to acquire. While he had one, his partner didn't.

If another had held onto this mighty force, he or she might have been tempted to cut off the plan here and not risk a more dangerous fetch quest for another. But there was a special arrangement between he and his partner. He couldn't back down even if he tried. That would be not playing the game with all his effort, which would be as good as a failure.

The game…

…Dr. Lagrano's face was turning red in anger. "The game is just for your training exercises!" he shouted near the end of his rant. "It shouldn't continue past that."

He just smirked to that. "I don't see why it should be that way," he replied. "I've studied history and current events, as you requested, and it seems to me that everything can be explained by the game. And you've made me to play to win. I'm going to do that. But then, what's to keep you from being involved?"…

… it was never-ending, really. Lagrano's insistence that the game did not continue was a valid move for keeping control of a winning situation. The original Botos had played a cunning strategy against Epsilon. And Epsilon could have been a magnificent player if he didn't automatically trust anyone who said that they agreed with his philosophy. Although, there was a good chance that X was the most skilled player in the area, and he was still going strong.

While X was a threat, the current Botos went into the base, shifted into Ochre's form for ease of travel, then followed his path deeper inside. Even when it seemed like you had a winning condition… even with the SFM which he had already infused into himself so he didn't lose it as he changed forms… the game was still on and you had to keep going. A losing condition could come up unexpectedly and wreck all progress made.

And he did not like losing.

* * *

 

Six ships appeared in shafts of light, on the waters near Grave Ruins Base. Not long after, three helicopters refitted for battle followed suit. There was a large group of Rebellion reploids there, some flying, others on seven hovercraft. They fired immediately on the Resistance vessels, who quickly fired back. And so the battle for the Freesia district began.

R and Palette were quick with orders and observations to the three groups. On X's request, Massimo listened in on those transmissions while watching for Rebellion flying reploids that would try to come to their particular vessel. The rest of their squad was supporting this initial fight so that they could get a moment to get into the base. X used his Meteor cannon once, then observed the area to see what exactly he wanted done.

After trying to watch the whole situation too, Massimo found it too confusing and opted to stick with observing their ship and the transmission lines. He soon related to X, " _Palette says that our group is facing the strongest force; the other groups are just facing mechaniloids."_

X nodded, but didn't immediately reply. When he did, it was over the main Resistance line. "Captain Lee, send us in to the west side entrance. R, we're taking route two. Zero, Axl, take route one." Like he had suggested before coming out.

Then, someone teleported onto the deck of their ship. Massimo readied his lance, but soon recognized the black masked reploid as Scarface, said to be the Rebellion's best close-quarters fighter. Was he up to taking on him? Never mind that; he had to act. He started to skate over to X.

But then Scarface grabbed X by his collar, while he was distracted in thinking on something. "Excuse me," Scarface said sternly, then teleported away with him.

Massimo stopped. X was gone. What did they do now?

* * *

 

Scarface wondered how Ferham was doing. She had a deep gouge him her chest due to Botos' attack. Although that could be taken care of with the automated repair machines, the hit to her pride might be tougher to heal. They were military reploids; they were supposed to be prepared for anything, even an internal betrayal. Previously, Scarface had believed that Epsilon must have had his reasons for trusting Botos, a rather obvious scumbag, with one of the two keys to their SMF missile. Now he wondered if his leader's judgment had been wrong.

Whether that was true or not, the masked knight was still loyal. He would follow orders… although he disliked the orders. "You want me to bring X in here to speak with you?" he asked, feeling concerned for his leader.

Epsilon gave his slight nod. "Yes. I believe that is the best course of action now."

Scarface thought it was an incredibly dangerous course of action. As much as he felt that he shouldn't, he wanted to disagree. "From what I hear, X is dangerous, even alone," he said. "He seems to have been the key to the Resistance's success. Are you sure about this?"

"He's is also said to be an exceptional thinker," Epsilon pointed out. "Possibly, I should have done this sooner. Besides, I am capable of handling the situation if things turn bad."

"Of course," he replied, giving a bow. "Forgive me."

"You're simply concerned with my welfare; it is nothing to be sorry for. Since they've come here, you'd best go get him."

"Yes, sir," Scarface said, then teleported to the outer edge of Grave Ruins Base.

He still felt unsettled about this request. He had changed loyalties before… but that was because his Lagrano masters were clearly dishonorable. Epsilon was completely honorable. He was wise, intelligent, and selfless. Even if this request didn't make complete sense to Scarface, he was certain that it made sense to Epsilon. And thus he would go through with it…

Wait… what were their forces doing out here attacking the Resistance?

Teleporting onto one of their boats, he went up to one of the commanders and glowered at him. "What are you doing out here?" he demanded. "In case of an invasion, you were to defend from within Grave Ruins."

"Buzz off, you deadbolt," the unit commander snapped back. "We're actually defending this place instead of hiding out cowardly inside. Or if you're going to do something, do some…"

Scarface grabbed the man by the neck and forced him to look at him face to face. "You are a disgrace for going against orders. I will leave you to this for now, but if I come back with different orders from Epsilon, you had better follow them immediately." He then dropped the reploid to look around for the blue Maverick Hunter.

It took a moment to realize that X had changed and now had white armor. But he had the right face, and the squad he had gathered was with him. Hmmm… he just needed X, but there were a number of fighters on the vessel. His personal teleporter was quite good, but to get to the exact spot, he had to focus for a moment. Ignore the insulted Rebellion commander's complaints, to land right in X's blind spot.

Obviously, he got the attentions of several others on the boat. They didn't matter. Scarface took hold of the oversized collar on X's new armor to force him to pay attention. "Excuse me," he said sternly, then teleported to an interior hallway in Grave Ruins Base. "You're coming with me."

"What for?" X asked, turning to face him. He had an assertive tone, not aggressive as Scarface had expected.

"Epsilon wants to talk with you," he replied.

Green eyes studied him intensely for a second before he nodded. "All right."

This also surprised him. "All right?"

"Yes," X said in a patient tone. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, that works." He walked to the hall that connected to the space Epsilon stayed in, keeping hold on X. "I simply expected more resistance. You're not plotting to shoot first, are you?"

"No. If Epsilon wants to talk, I'll talk with him." He paused, eyes unfocused, then looked back to him. "I can't guarantee the actions of my peers, though. They might assume the worst."

"I'll deal with them if they threaten Epsilon," Scarface replied. Or Ferham, if they got close to where she was.

* * *

 

That was brazen, Zero thought, on seeing Scarface disappear with X. He could normally count on X to take care of himself. Normally; he recalled the power Epsilon had wielded in the battle on Lagrano Tower. And, the Giga City trio in their squad was looking startled at the event. So he called out over the keyed line, _"X? What happened?"_ If he could respond, he wasn't far.

" _I've been taken into Grave Ruins, it seems. Hold on."_

Seeing Cinnamon looking at him, he pointed out to a flying reploid and shot at him, indicating that she and the others should keep to their assignments. The Rebellion forces didn't seem too well organized right now, but it was safer to assume that they would pounce on any showing of hesitation or weakness. Too many other foes had done that in his experience.

" _I'm being taken to meet Epsilon,"_ X said after a minute. " _I might be able to get him down to a truce, but I'm going to need my entire focus on that. Zero, you lead the rest of our squad through route two of the plan, focusing on giving Nana a link into Grave Ruins. I will attempt to use your approach and the Resistance actions to pressure him into surrender, at the very least a truce. If things take too long, head for the security center and take control of the base and secure the SFM stored here. Since I'm here, you can still use this line, but if you must communicate with me, use the signals to catch my attention."_

" _Will do,"_ Zero replied. The last part of X's orders were unnecessary, as he knew to do that. It was probably for the benefit of the three younger members, letting them know that Zero or Axl would have to put in a message to X. He then switched over to the main communications. "Palette, you got the message off X's line?"

"I wasn't focused on that," she replied honestly.

He had to let R in on this anyhow, so Zero explained, "X was taken by Scarface to meet with Epsilon. He told us to carry through with the Freesia invasion plan unless he calls in to signify that a surrender or truce has been made. I'm leading our group in by route 2 to get a foothold in Grave Ruins."

"Gotcha," Palette replied.

"All right, I'm sure X can handle that," R added. "Keep moving, everyone, and let them know that we're serious."

* * *

 

While he waited on Scarface and X to show up, Epsilon looked around the place he was staying. It was a curious spot in the high security base: a huge square room that stood between the testing area and the most interior control rooms. It appeared to be completely open to the elements, with special energy barriers transparent to show the broad sky above and the rough seas three stories below. In the center of it, there was a large square platform with hallways connecting it to both sections of the base. As such, it was bright with natural sunlight at this time of the day.

He sat on a plain bench at a simple portable table and pondered the oddest thing about the current circumstances. Although it was bright with the midday sun reflecting off the ocean surface, he felt no visual discomfort at it. In fact, he hardly felt any pain at all.

Normal people would think of it as ordinary, nothing to worry about. But this was out of the ordinary for Epsilon. He had gotten used to being in endless pain, so to have it fading, or even gone, it was strange. Of more concern, he knew that his SFM Core was the cause of his condition, so any change in his level of pain had to be related to his core. Was it actually losing power? He knew how to create new SFM material. Then again, he knew that a good portion of himself, of his being, was linked to his supra-force metal. If he had to replace it, he had no idea what would happen to himself and his self.

In comparison, most normal force meals were not known to wear out. Most. There were a few that were naturally fragile, like the Reboot metals. They tended to crack or even crumble to dust after being used for their purpose. Apparently, some of the older ones grew less effective too. As his had been in constant use, perhaps its time limit was drawing to a close.

"Epsilon."

He was being spoken to. Epsilon focused outside his mind to see that Scarface had returned without injury. With him was X. His white armor looked strange and fierce, with a single-eye scope, two large gun barrels, and shoulder structures that might be missile pods. However, his face appeared calm, his eyes showing curiosity rather than a desire to use his weapons.

Bowing once he knew he had Epsilon's attention, Scarface said, "I have brought X as you wished. He has been cooperative so far." He didn't seem to trust that cooperation for much longer, though.

"Hello, Commander Epsilon," X said respectfully. He had left the gun barrels down to offer a handshake. "I apologize for my current appearance, but I wasn't expecting these formalities at this stage, after what's happened so far."

He had an ingrained reluctance to unnecessary movements. But, the show of politeness was better responded to. Epsilon clasped X's hand briefly; a twitch of pain along his elbow and wrist kept him from doing much more. "Hello, Commander X. I had not expected cooperation, thus I merely took advantage of an opportunity. I don't have much here, but please sit down for a discussion of what is going on. I will offer no hostilities if you do not."

Nodding, X caused his gun barrels to detach further before sitting down at the opposite bench.

Scarface still held an uneasy stance. "Sir? Our forces are currently engaged in a battle outside of the base. They left their positions to meet the invading Resistance."

"Deserters can get what's coming to them," Epsilon replied. Any true followers of his would have stayed. "Go assess how many of our forces remain within Grave Ruins and make sure they know that the battle was not called for."

"Would you like to call for a cease fire to hold discussions?" X offered. "I should be able to arrange it on the Resistance side."

"That isn't necessary," he said.

"I will check on them, sir," Scarface said, teleporting off.

Looking briefly uneasy, X watched the spot where the masked knight had been, then glanced around the room. "He did take me without warning. My peers would likely continue the fight strongly unless I intervene; we won't have long to talk then."

"It will be long enough," Epsilon said. People were reasonable; they weren't about to walk into a calm discussion they weren't a part of and start shooting. "Now, why did you steal the supra-force metal we had at Melda?"

X shook his head. "We didn't steal it. We didn't even get a chance to see it for ourselves; someone else took it before we could reach the warhead."

"It was that shapeshifter or yours, as he appeared invisible and in another's form. We saw the security tapes."

"No, it wasn't," he insisted calmly. "I sent Axl out of Giga City with another member of our group. There's several people who can confirm that he was gone during the time that we were in Melda. I do have evidence that there's been another shapeshifter around recently, even before that incident. We do not have the supra-force metal, just a fragment that we received from Botos."

How brazen of him to be doing that. "You're lying," Epsilon told him plainly. "Botos would not have given away such a thing to our enemy."

"Have you seen the videos for that?" X asked. "I don't know what he was trying to accomplish, but he made a point to show it to us and explain what it did. Then he fought us until it fell out of a loose slot; he bolted right at that moment. So he meant for us to take it."

"That is a cunning argument." X was indeed intelligent, but he should know better and tell the truth. "But Botos believed in our ideals and would not have betrayed them."

Anyone else might have started being irrational, but not this Hunter. "He has betrayed you before, and lied about his actions. He undermined your authority and taken a good deal of your followers as his own. We have the word of Luna Narwhale on that."

Epsilon narrowed his eyes at X. "Those who have accepted the true philosophy that I have discovered would never be so dishonorable. They would know that telling the truth is better than telling a lie."

* * *

 

Grave Ruins Base was intense. Everywhere they went there were hidden weapons, subtle traps, deadly obstacles, and a wide variety of Preons to get in their way. No other reploids yet, for which Marino was glad. She was also glad that the two Hunters were with them. On her own, she could disable most of the traps in here, or advise her peers on how to avoid them. The rest, she couldn't even detect. Axl and Zero managed to spot those ones. And, there was a decent chance that they could spot the ones she was taking care of. But rather than being indignant, she made a point to observe how they handled the things.

Being they were in the right hallway, Marino looked for and found the door to the office she needed. Unfortunately, it was locked tight. There were three lights on a panel nearby, and three pillars of light in the hall. "Those are security features," she said, pointing them out to Massimo and Cinnamon. "But it looks like that in order to open this door, we have to trigger them and fight whatever they call. If we're lucky, that's it."

"What if we're not?" Zero asked, looking at the door.

"It'll be on a time lapse reset," she answered. "Or it's a farce hiding another trap."

He nodded once. "Cinnamon, stay here by the door; when it opens, step onto the doorframe and stay there in case it tries to lock again." A nice idea, considering that most doors had safety features that would not allow them to close with someone standing in the frame. "Axl, you stay here too and provide back-up fire, unless there's something aggressive on the other side of the door. Massimo, you take that pillar, Marino, that one, and I'll get the far one. If it does trigger battles, get them over with quick."

"Right away," Marino said. Her pillar was closest to the office, so she could then move quickly to her next job. Disrupting the light beam called in four Preon Chasers, but those were embarrassingly easy. She knocked them out quickly, then checked on the device in the ceiling. From its moving light pattern, she could tell it was on a time lapse reset.

A shot flew past her head and struck a Preon down the hall where Zero was. While he was tearing them apart with his clawed hands, he did seem to have called the toughest group. And they were trying to take this quickly. Marino ran back toward Cinnamon and Axl. The former was in the doorway.

"There's just a workstation in here," the girl said.

Knowing there might be more than she would see, Marino gave the place a close examination herself. "Good. Stay there, would you?" Then she went over to disarm a trap while Axl fired at the Preons Massimo was fighting.

While she was taking care of a second, Zero came in over the com line. " _The other doors in this hallway have opened up too. I can see Scarface, but not X or Epsilon. The Cadre looks ticked off, though. Axl, you take charge of the group while Marino gets Nana into the system. I'll deal with this one so you don't get interrupted."_

" _Good luck, man,"_ Axl replied. "Looking all right in there?"

"Almost workable," she said, taking care of a third trap. "You see anything else worrisome?"

"No," he said, then waved at Massimo. "No, stay down there for now, Massimo; intercept anyone who comes from there way. I'll back you up if it's too much."

"Got it," he replied, faint to Marino's hearing.

"Looks like it should stay unlocked once she gets the console working," Axl then said to Cinnamon. "Watch down that door, the one we came in through; call me if you can't handle something."

"Okay," she said, but stayed until Marino started working on the console.

And now to get a line out to Nana… Marino searched through the functions of this computer console, looking for a useful path.

* * *

 

Scarface felt quietly angry. Why were their own forces betraying them? Epsilon was working for the good of all reploids; he always had. So why was everyone else turning on him? There wasn't a single loyal Rebellion member left inside of Grave Ruins base aside from himself and Ferham. They were all out fighting the Resistance, apparently at the orders of Botos who had been dead since yesterday. And worse than that, the Resistance was clearly winning outside.

Maybe they should have taken X's offer of a truce. He wanted to report back to Epsilon, but he and X were still involved in tense discussion. Scarface had a suspicion that the Maverick Hunter was toying with them, humoring their request for talks while letting the rest of the Rebellion get destroyed. Meanwhile, the rest of his squad had come into the base themselves. While he wasn't sure what they were doing, he knew that they were uncomfortably close to where Ferham was recovering. Would they try to capture her, or just kill her then and there?

She should be ready to come out, he reflected. He could go get her and then… Scarface clenched his fist. In the secrecy of his mind, he wanted to leave this place with Ferham, making sure that she stayed safe and free. And he could be with her then, not having to serve anyone but her. But his honor would not allow him to do that. He had pledged his loyalty to Epsilon, who could change the world. As such, he should stay, even if he feared that it was all going to be burned to nothing if they stayed much longer.

At that moment, a door to the room he was in opened. That would lead to the place where the rest of X's squad was. For a moment, he saw a flash of blue light on black. But then he couldn't tell who was past there. Scarface reached for his weapon and checked on his surroundings. He was in one of the battle rooms, large and mostly open, with a circular shield projector to keep the combatants contained. In theory, an observer could stand outside the shield while a battle was going on, but in practice, the observation area was on the other side of Grave Ruins. There weren't any built in traps here, just an open space for a duel between reploids.

Someone came through the door that Scarface didn't immediately recognize. He wore draconic black armor with streaks of moving blue lights, including two large wings on his back. But the face and the long blond hair was the same. "Zero," he said, trying to sound calm even with that deep anger. "Your group has done admirably to make it in so deep."

"You must be Scarface," he said, calm but with hints that he shouldn't be taken lightly. The door shut behind him as he entered the battle circle, but he stopped. "Your group is falling apart in the final stand. Are you going to surrender?"

He wasn't going to attack right off? Scarface would have felt better to fight him. "I haven't heard that from Epsilon yet," he admitted. "He and X are still talking."

His eyes narrowed, but he still didn't attack. "You did a very foolish thing in taking off with him. He's the sort who would have come if you'd just asked politely before the confrontation. Or better yet, before this whole mess started when you tried to kill us."

"It would have been better if you didn't go branding us Mavericks without provocation," Scarface said. His body felt ready to go into the fight. However, it would disappoint Epsilon if he attacked without immediate reason.

"That doesn't matter anymore. Right now, we're retaking the city from you and your lot has to chance to prove that you are honorable by stepping down. It will look a lot better to the world if you did."

Was it more honorable to surrender? It was Epsilon's choice in the end, and Scarface would do whatever he said. But right now, he felt it was demeaning how Zero was talking to him. And while he agreed with Epsilon's philosophy, having done pretty much nothing while the Resistance tore through their numbers like paper soldiers had been humiliating. Scarface tried to tolerate it, but this was their last stand, and they had defeated everyone but himself and Epsilon.

They had defeated Ferham and used that to excuse stealing the supra-force metal.

His anger snapped as he activated his double-bladed sword. "You can't manipulate me with your bluffs," he said, then attacked.

Before his attack could connect, Zero had dashed out of the way. When he turned, Scarface saw that the Hunter had drawn two weapons, the handle of a light plasma blade and the handle of a heavy plasma blade. "Maybe if your choose your allies more carefully, this could have been avoided."

"It's too late now."

* * *

 

This area of Grave Ruins Base was quiet. Occasionally, doors opened up and he went through. The security cameras never saw him. Evading other detection system was trickier than just turning invisible, but he'd ripped information out of a Rebellion member's head about how to move around without triggering anything. No need to get sloppy; the game could be lost at any stage, even just before the player triumphed.

But, when did the game end?

It had been something of a bother when he'd first considered that question seriously. It was when he'd gained enough forms and powers that battles became ridiculously easy. After that, he'd started handicapping himself just to have some thrill of a challenge. But a self-imposed obstacle was nothing compared to a real obstacle.

But, X and Zero were in the game fully now. That would make things interesting. Smiling to himself, he input a code that allowed him to enter the storage room he needed. His final objective for this stage was nearly at hand.

Inside, there were cases with various valuables from around the base. That's all they were, valuables, items with monetary worth and nothing more. Looking at one case that had several old-fashioned hardbound books in it, he wondered what Epsilon meant for all this stuff. Personally, he'd sell it all for something of more power, money. That money could go into more functional power, and thus lead to advancement in the game.

It was all about advancement with the game. Winning battles was a simplistic understanding of it. Manipulating events to make others win battles for you was where it got really interesting. He had gotten to the point where he could make a loss, his 'death', into a winning scenario and that was only one movement of his overall strategy. However, the really big advancement was within him, and right in front of him.

The other piece of supra-force metal was like the other one, almost entirely dense crystals that glowed with the force of its power. The two pieces reacted to one another. For a moment, it was like a hive of a thousand bees buzzing directly into his mind. _Awaken and emerge_ …

No. Stepping back, he wondered what that had been. What was supposed to be awakening? Whatever it was, it shouldn't. He was taking control. Or rather, extending his control. He set to work disarming the security that kept the SFM from being removed directly.

Perhaps the game never ended. But he liked that. He would get incredibly bored otherwise.

* * *

 

A whistling sound came over the private network. " _Nana has control over Freesia. Zero is fighting Scarface. We're securing things._ " It was a message from Axl.

So that was over. " _Good, carry on,"_ X replied. " _Zero, be ready to stand down."_ Then he had to let Epsilon in on this information.

X was beginning to prefer politics over war. Sure, there was a lot of arguing in politics, but nobody died because of them. Negotiating to defuse a situation was a skill that he had been honing once the threat of the Maverick virus wasn't overbearing. With every step away from a military mindset that the Maverick Hunters took, he felt a little happier and more hopeful.

Still, talking with Epsilon was a negotiation with a brick wall. The Rebellion leader was intelligent and clearly had thought through his philosophy in great detail. However, he had formulated his ideals with no constructive criticism or guidance whatsoever. It had always been that people agreed wholeheartedly or disagreed spitefully with him. Now that Epsilon was dealing with someone who could agree with the principles but not the specifics, the young reploid was on entirely new grounds and hostilely defensive because of it. He could understand lies and the uncertainty of words, but would not accept that those who agreed with him verbally might be lying.

"Epsilon, I believe we've run out of time," X said. "I've just been given word that the Resistance has taken control of Freesia's networks."

"Have they?" He seemed to check with something by closing his eyes. He moved so little that one might mistake him for a statue.

"I offered a truce," X reminded him. "We can still work out a peaceful surrender. There are enough suspicious points to this conflict that it could be resolved." Sure, he might have to put Epsilon and the remaining two Cadres into protective custody, but it wouldn't be imprisonment or execution. And the whole missile scenario would have to be handled delicately.

Epsilon opened his eyes again. "Scarface is fighting Zero and he won't respond to me."

"I can get Zero to back off," he offered. Or at least start blocking rather than actively fighting. It was hard to say if Scarface would need to be constrained when he didn't know the situation of that fight fully.

For a moment, he seemed to be at a loss. Don't get proud, X thought but declined to say. Take a bit of humility and we can both walk out of this alive, which is a lot more than others have gotten. But then Epsilon looked surprised and checked a room that was down the pathway, opposite of where X had come in.

A whistle alert came from Axl again, " _Cinnamon says that the SFM here has moved_."

That was exactly what he didn't want happening. X shifted positions slightly, not enough to be threatening, but enough so that he could move into battle sooner. After acknowledging the message but not saying anything, he waited to know what Epsilon would do.

Whatever was underneath his black cloak hissed, reminding X of a machine expelling steam to release pressure. "Your adaptability is said to be remarkable," Epsilon said, right before he flipped the table up and slammed X with it, causing the false wood to break into a cloud of splinters. "You can even turn your own capture into your victory. But I will stop you here and now." He then went to punch X, using as much of his weight as he could.

While he had been hit with the table, X had used it to cover bringing his Meteor armor back into battle readiness. He used a full burst of the jets to get out of the punch while throwing a flash grenade. That was the beginnings of the test to find out how Epsilon fought. "If it must be this way, so be it," he replied.

* * *

 

It didn't take long for Zero's suspicions to be confirmed: Scarface was used to fighting predictable fights against opponents he had fought many times. For him, battles had a regular set of rules and no one left those boundaries. And Zero, fighting with two different plasma blades and flight armor, was running a completely different kind of battle. While Zero was still getting used to this particular set-up, he never let himself fall into being predictable.

He blocked Scarface's yellow blade with his Soul Blade, then shifted aside as the masked knight tried to flip his double-sided weapon around while side-stepping to avoid the heavy blade. As it couldn't move fast enough to block a second time, Zero flew out of range, then back in when the danger was past to pierce his opponent's shoulder through with the Z-Rapier. Then Scarface struck him with a counterattack; thankfully, the armor took it. He countered back with the rapier, which Scarface was able to block, and then he added a strike with Soul Blade. Scarface's black bodysuit didn't look capable, but Zero was finding that it was a good suit of armor.

He heard some exchange between the other party members, ending with X saying, " _Zero, be ready to stand down."_ In the old days, he might have disputed that. But they weren't dealing with viral Mavericks. The Rebellion may have been foolish, but they weren't all insane.

Because of those orders, when Scarface dropped back to reconsider his strategy, Zero let him have a breather. "You need to be better prepared for the unexpected," he said, switching off the Soul Blade and putting it back. It was good, but this armor was built towards being quick and nimble; better to have a weapon that matched that.

"And what make you think that I'm not?" he asked a bit of angered pride showing.

"Experience." Then he changed tactics by flying into the center of the room, activating his rapier as if about to dive, then shot at Scarface with his buster. This hit the knight hard, knocking him do his knees. He was back up quickly, firing an electrical impulse at Zero. Flying aside to dodge it, Zero shot at him again. Scarface deflected it, so he did the same; the plasma burst struck near the masked knight's knees.

This led to Zero finding his opponent's pattern fault. Scarface could block-counter combat and shot attacks, but he couldn't cover both as once. Whenever he was struck with a shot, he readied to block another shot even when Zero air-dashed over to slash at him. It was unfortunate, he thought, that this kind of strategy problem remained in many young reploids. The early ones at least had the excuse that the engineers didn't know how to program more complicated strategic thinking, but by this point a reploid over a year old like this one should be able to manage. Fighting the same old fights over and over again dulled the mind and body.

Then another series of messages came over the com line, including the set to get X's attention. " _Cinnamon says the SFM here has moved,"_ Axl said.

After a second (in which Zero and Scarface clashed blades again), X replied, " _Epsilon has gone on the offensive. Leave this to me. Go catch the thief in action."_

" _I've got this Cadre occupied,"_ Zero added. He noticed when Scarface must have gotten a message from Epsilon, but declined to take advantage of it. Otherwise, he could have killed him in that moment.

Zero had no qualms about killing an aggressive Maverick, viral or not. But X was in charge of this mission and he would have to answer for anything that happened. For that, Zero would give Scarface a chance to surrender.

In the meantime, Axl, Cinnamon, and Palette were coordinating an effort to intercept the SFM thief quickest. Zero heard brief mention that Nana allowed them to control the traps and obstacles; he couldn't pay much attention to their part of the plan now that he had Scarface were actively fighting. When they paused again, Scarface said, "Your group is quite devious for one that claims to uphold the law. You're just greedy, sacrificing us in order to get hold of the supra-force metals."

"We had no idea they existed before we came here," Zero told him. "Someone else is stealing them, someone who could get away with the one here if we don't stop this nonsense and go get it. You've caused enough trouble to get a death warrant on you, but if you cooperate and help us get this thief, we might be able to work things out."

"That's a lie," Scarface said, then sent out one of his electrical bursts. "People like you need to be taken out of the picture before anything can improve. I won't betray Epsilon."

Blind loyalty and bravery got people killed, Zero thought as he went back into the fight. He fired his buster at Scarface, getting him to be ready to block that. Then he darted in and put his rapier through the knight's neck. Immediately, his face had a brief seizure while he attacked again. Not designed based off human biology, but it would hamper his senses. Zero then sliced the Z-rapier through his torso; his CPU would be in there somewhere and even if he didn't hit it, he would incapacitate Scarface with only a small chance of actually killing him. In order to take in criminals alive, he had practiced how to do so thoroughly.

After a minute of watching his fallen body to make sure it was down, Zero radioed in to the Resistance Command Center. "I've got Scarface incapacitated. Is there anything other than the thief that needs taking care of?"

"We've detected Ferham near your location," Palette replied. "She… no wait, she just teleported outside. I need to warn the troops out there. Follow this route to cut off another exit for the SFM thief."

After his internal map adjusted, Zero dashed through one of the doors in the room. "I'm on it."

* * *

 

Epsilon was charging that nanite attack again. X remembered that from their first battle; even with this Meteor armor, he suspected that it would again do heavy damage since it did not qualify as a physical attack. Trying to knock him out of it, X set up one of his stronger attacks, Nova Strike. In the past, he had used it to fire immense beams of energy, much like the one he was facing. It worked quite differently in the Meteor armor. Instead of one blast, Nova Strike opened up nearly every weapon this armor had to fire in a massive barrage. Missiles, grenades, energy blasts, they all collided into Epsilon, shredding a good potion of his cloak and putting deep punctures into his armor.

It did cause him to drop the charge and instead fire a weaker version of his power attack. X was able to get out of the way. As he did so, he noticed the thick wires that came out of Epsilon's back. The ends were glowing, sending off small sparks as they got moved. Those most likely weren't ornamental features, X thought. While he wasn't sure what function they held, he sensed that they were connected to his SFM power core. So he shot off several of the wires to see what would happen.

A second later, he had to dash out of the way as Epsilon turned and closed the distance to punch him again. However, he was moving much quicker this time and the wounds he'd gotten from Nova Strike were already healing. That was one of the reasons that this fight was taking so long; Epsilon could not only take a lot of damage, but he could self-repair at an alarmingly high rate. It was to the point where this overpowered armor was barely doing enough damage to counter the repair rate. Thank the heavens that Epsilon had stayed out of battles in this conflict so far. He could have squashed the whole Resistance alone if he had been inclined to do so.

X then got a clear suggestion from his love metal: this was getting very dangerous and Epsilon couldn't be reasoned with now. That was odd. Previously, he'd felt small nudges and suggestions, but this was almost like it was speaking to him within his mind. X couldn't think on it much longer as Epsilon successfully hit him and put some cracks in the chest piece of this armor.

Then he got a message from Axl again. " _Cinnamon says that Epsilon's greatly increased the power output on his core."_

And Zero followed up quickly with, " _He's going to be dangerously unbalanced. But he can't last like this."_

" _You're right,"_ X replied, using another flash grenade to give him a few free seconds here. " _Don't interfere unless I can't continue. Get that thief."_

He was going to have to find a way to stop his opponent's healing factor, especially if he was putting more power into his system. For a moment, there seemed to be a look of pain on Epsilon's face. Then it changed for a berserk rage as the sparks from his wires became audible. Electric power gathered around his fist as he came to punch X again.

On one hand, X could use his jets to get out of range of an unarmed fighter. On the other hand, that would open up the more devastating long range attacks. Then he had to account for the SFM. He knew the circumstances where it had been proven that they exploded and radiated unstable power that would mess with electronic systems. With the power Epsilon had, his SFM going bust could turn the majority of the reploids fighting here into FM Mavericks. X had to take down Epsilon without causing more problems.

Then his love metal spoke up again. The force metals were seventh dimensional objects, and so was he. If he was willing to take a risk, he could channel the energy release in a direction which wouldn't affect everyone in Giga City. The risk was that most of the energy release was going to hit him. There was even a methodology to it as if this was something that had been done before.

X fired at Epsilon again, going by in a dash. He was still healing, now faster than X could damage him except by a Nova Strike. In his mind, he reviewed the plan. There were some steps that he wasn't sure how they would work. But the majority of it fit what he knew from researching force metals and observing their effects. And what he wasn't sure about seemed to suggest that the metals did have some intelligence to them. If his own love metal could suggest the plan, then it definitely had an intelligence that wasn't part of his own. It made sense of some questions he'd had of them, but opened up a great many more.

Now wasn't the time for scientific curiosity. Now was the time when he needed action and this plan had the least amount of collateral damage. Deciding to take the chance, X brought his left arm in front of his body defensively while getting out his Z-saber with his right. When Epsilon came at him to attack, X ducked low and sent the saber straight through his torso. That struck the SFM and put a lethal break in it.

Then he had to focus on senses he usually didn't listen to. They would let him detect viral energy himself, but as it usually produced a low background 'hiss', he didn't rely on it these days. Through that, he could tell that Epsilon was still pushing his core to produce power, further cracking the SFM. All the energy it held had to be redirected so that it didn't affect others and he was the nearest conduit to do that with. Tapping into his force metals, he made a connection between the SFM and himself, then got ready to blast that energy though the Meteor's cannons.

When the SFM burst, X found himself pummeled with the majority of the explosion's force. He tried to keep it within the Meteor armor (as that could be replaced), but it was like trying to control a natural tsunami. It was the power to do anything one wanted; he could make and enforce peace if he wielded this level of power.

Then again, it was just power. It was a neutral force, but the temptation it held was great. X could see how this would overwhelm someone not used to denying it. While he might want to start out with good intentions, the power itself and the lack of anyone who could counter it would eventually corrupt even him. It was admirable that Epsilon had held out for so long, but it seemed the SFM core was a bad idea from the start.

X focused his mind on the moment to ignore the power, then realized that he was firing off into the wall on his right side. Gritting his teeth and hoping his momentarily lapse hadn't killed anyone, he pulled the cannon arm away and redirected it upwards. The environmental shield held on for a few seconds, then got overloaded and ruptured with a loud snap. All the while, he kept hearing whispers in his mind, like that which his love metal had been doing. It was like listening to someone sleep talking in a foreign language, of minds asleep and speaking incomprehensibly.

Minds… were the force metals a kind of symbiotic intelligence? What were they here for? Why were they here?

As he wondered, images flickered through his mind that definitely weren't from his memory. Somewhere out in space, a world had been destroyed. It had not been their intent; they just wanted to help. They were always trying to help. Without suitable hosts, they went into stasis and left themselves to the mercy of the universe. They could lead to total destruction, but they did not want that to happen again. They wanted to help. And the few who were most aware had felt the presence of an old enemy, a true force of destruction that was lurking in this world.

It's the truth, a small voice that wasn't his said.

As important as this could be, X had more immediate concerns. The energy release was finally tapering off. Someone might be trying to talk to him over the com lines, but he couldn't focus on that. Looking right in front of him, he could tell that Epsilon's mind was gone. From the connection, he had a strong feeling that he wouldn't be recoverable either. He shut off his cannon and used the last of the energy to pull him onto his back on the ground.

The first member of the team to reach him was Marino. "What the hell was that for?" she asked, leaping from the hole in the wall that he had blasted out. "Nobody got hit by that, but you punched holes clear through twelve security walls with that hit."

"Pine clear to scramble ten gravity," he replied. Then he heard his own words, which weren't what he intended to say. Feeling a touch of fear, X tried to think of what to do. But his thoughts seemed to be rushing about madly, sometimes randomly. "When is saving gone?"

"What's the matter with you?" Marino asked, coming closer. She seemed concerned.

The energy must have destabilized something about his own programming, X realized. Not his reasoning ability, or his perception, but something with his communications. As he felt a pang of sadness for no sensible reason, he also had to consider that his personality and emotion areas were in trouble too. That wasn't good; he'd be unpredictable and there was a chance that his rational mind wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. The thing to do right now would be to cut off the suspect areas of his mind and run them through his internal checks to find the problem and fix it, if possible.

They were in a potentially hostile area, but the others were with him. X began shutting down parts of himself.

* * *

 

This was fun. He could see Axl and Cinnamon in the same room as himself. Just beyond the corners, Zero was rushing in, and Massimo and Marino were not that far off either. While none of them could see him, Cinnamon seemed to be able to locate the SFM. She occasionally fired at him, but wasn't experienced enough to hit him when he kept moving erratically. And he was barely tapping into the SFM's power too. If he merged with that, then a really thrilling fight would begin.

No, not yet, he reminded himself. This wasn't the time nor the place. He was just wasting time until he decided which one of them he should kill here. After all this trouble, he didn't want to have a fight where they didn't give their utmost. And knocking one of them off here would give them the passion for revenge that made a truly great drama. He could take out one of the Hunters, who were the really dangerous ones, but then that would cut into the thrill and challenge.

Then Cinnamon pulled out one of her items and threw it into the center of the room. A blast of gray smoke erupted from it, filling the air. A smoke bomb… were they trying to escape?

He got his answer a second later when Axl fired at him and Zero flew into the room and nearly gutted him. No, they were doing that to see him in his invisible form. Clever. He dropped the invisibility and smashed a card into Zero's face before dashing away from the lot of them. But he kept looking at the Hunter; he wanted to see the shocked look on his face.

Instead of shock, Zero looked incensed, a blaze of anger that did not fit in with his current armor's icy theme. "Spider, what the hell are you up to?" he shouted, racing at him again.

Spider barely managed to get out of the way of that attack. "Do you usually greet people you haven't seen in a long time like that?" he taunted.

"It's Spider?" he heard Cinnamon ask in confusion from behind the air full of smoke.

"Only traitors," Zero said, firing a cold plasma blast his way. "X was right about you."

Spider flung a card in the direction of the Hunter's voice, but the sound of the explosion told him that it had hit the wall instead. From a hiss in the room, he felt that the smoke wasn't going to clear any time soon. "He is inconveniently clever like that." Then he dashed out of the way, in case Zero was also following his voice.

"We're going to bring you to justice," Axl called into the room, although an uncertain tone indicated that X hadn't told all of them yet.

"I doubt th..." Spider began to say, starting up a teleport sequence. He couldn't get past the Resistance shield this way, but he could get to a point where he could swim out of it.

But a giant yellow energy beam ripped through one of the walls, just inches from where Spider was standing. He could feel the raw power coming off it and had to dash away in case it expanded. The glow of it reflected off all the smoke particles in the room and produced a strong glare all around them.

"****," Spider said with a scowl. "Who the heck is that?"

"That would be X," Zero said, his voice coming closer at a high rate of speed.

"Screw this," he said, then activated his teleport. But right before he could get himself away, icy talons ripped into his arm. When he appeared on a quiet portion of the housing area, his arm was in intense pain. If he had stayed a second longer, Zero might have been able to rip him into pieces.

Cursing under his breath, Spider shifted out of this form into an oceanic reploid. That allowed him to fix up the damage, although some phantom pain would remain there. He couldn't afford to pay attention to that, though. Now that he had both SFMs in his possession, he had to get back to his partner.

On making sure the second metal was attached securely, he dove into the water. Was there enough time for one last meeting? It was something he'd been looking forward to and he would rather get the satisfaction of taking care of things now instead of at the next stage of the game.

There should be time.


	30. Teamwork

Ferham's mind was burning with anger and shame as her wings carried her far above the ocean. They had killed Scarface and Epsilon! While she had been out of action, the Resistance had swept into Freesia district and overwhelmed the Rebellion even there. She had emerged from the repair pod in time to see Zero kill Scarface on one of the security monitors. She had considered going after him herself for revenge. Instead, she had flown away.

It had always been in her mind ever since they had broken out of Lagrano's control. Just fly away from all this and see what was out there for her. She had stayed for Scarface though, and Epsilon. Besides, as just one of that group killed him, it was wiser to flee the situation before she got killed too. But, it felt so cowardly. She should have stayed with them, fighting to the end for their ideals. Fighting for a world where she and others like her could decide what they wanted to do, rather than what their makers wanted them to do. No, she had flown and got word on the way out that Epsilon had died as well.

In that case, there really wasn't anything tying her to this place but memories, some good but many bad. Ferham would get revenge; she swore it to the sky around her. It would require trickery to get back at the Hunters and their three friends. Trouble was, she wasn't good for making large plots. She could focus on them one at a time, but Epsilon had been the one who did much of the overall planning. And once she began hunting them down, they would become alert to her threat.

Then what should she do?

While she was thinking over all of this, she spotted someone flying a hoverbike at a lower elevation. She gave him a glance just in case. Although the biker didn't seem to notice her, he was familiar. It was that mercenary traitor, Spider. Wait, Spider? Hadn't he died in Gimialla Mines? His form was too distinctive to be anyone else in Giga City.

She hurried her pace to trail him, wondering what this mean. He was headed for Central Tower. On the way there, a strange white glow briefly surrounded the bike. When it cleared, it was no longer Spider driving it. It was a petite female reploid named Roslyn Rifle. As another one of Lagrano's projects, Ferham knew about this girl, and knew that she should be dead as well.

But she knew that couldn't be Axl. She had left him back in Grave Ruins, fighting with his group. This, this was another shapeshifter reploid. Maybe they were really right, that Axl had nothing to do with the theft of the SFMs. But who would that be? Most of them had died a long time ago although… there was that one project of Lagrano's that she had heard about.

Wanting to know, she activated some programs and examined him more accurately. When she looked for force metal energy, she detected both SFMs that had been in the Rebellion's control. That was the thief, and he (or she, at the moment) didn't have any special markers or flags that would have come up if it had been Axl on that bike.

Once at the Tower, Ferham hovered near a cargo transfer tube for cover. She increased her hearing so she could make out what was going on. The shapeshifter had slowed where Chief R was standing with some female reploid. "Here you are," the shapeshifter said in the high pitched voice of Roslyn.

R was on his guard quickly, to his credit. "Who are you?" he asked sharply. "You're supposed to be dead."

"I've been waiting to see you that way," she said, as she fired one of her rifles at him.

Before long, there was return fire from the female reploid. She had not hit the shapeshifter, but she had nailed the engine of the hoverbike, rendering it useless. 'Roslyn' cursed, then vanished in burst of light. When it cleared, Mach Jentra was in her place. The shapeshifter then bolted from the scene using his fire jets.

Smirking, Ferham continued her pursuit of the shapeshifter as the other saw to R's safety. Jentra had been a good fighter, she would admit that. But he wasn't as fast or as mobile as her. Even with the boost from the SFM, Ferham was able to trail him/her.

She might be getting in over her head if she tried to take on X and his squad alone. But tracking this thief and bringing him to justice might be more effective. There was a good chance she would be arrested too. Still, this might just restore the honor of Scarface and Epsilon if she succeeded. And for them, she would face any foe.

* * *

 

Redips was sitting in at a command meeting. He had pulled his hands off the table, as he kept restlessly tapping his fingers. Although he heard the talk and gave appropriate answers, he wasn't paying full attention to the budget questions, infection reports, and all the other business that kept the Maverick Hunters organization working smoothly. In a short while, none of it would matter. But waiting for the right time made time itself drag. Waiting for the news…

A familiar feeling washed over him. He was in the building. Not close enough to fully know, but there. Redips sat up straighter in his chair; his neighbors thought he was just shifting position. Before long, they would know otherwise.

At sea level, Spider parked his bike in the docking area. One of the two workers there came over. Gritting his teeth, Spider knew this was a make or break moment. If only he wasn't so high up in this tower. _I need permission to be here!_ he thought strongly, hoping that would be enough.

Redips closed his eyes and heard the faint thought. After checking on the others (distracted), he took the notepad computer in his lap and quickly made up orders. When it asked for approval, he put in his own numbers. Then he focused on the relevant information.

Spider got off the bike as the worker said, "This area's for boats only, sir, and you'll have to leave anyhow. We're..."

"Under a security alert, yeah, I know" he said, acting like he was completely in control of the situation. "I'm doing work for Commander Redips. Emergency business."

"Do you have the necessary security files?" the dock worker asked.

Spider immediately rattled off data that proved that he did have a security file for this situation, even though he physically didn't. That got accepted and he was directed to the elevator. A number came to him, so he went to that floor. As the connection became clearer, he was given route directions, passwords, and security answers.

Up in the board room, Redips continued to get the forms Spider needed. "Something come up?" the reploid next to him asked.

"Important business," he whispered. "Nothing big at the moment, but still under the radar."

Spider continued on his way, jumping through the hoops and mastering the tricks required to get anywhere quickly in this place when no one around knew who you were. His mood improved as he got higher and higher in the tower. At first, it was just the thoughts coming in clearer. Then it was the emotions; Redips was bored and anxious to begin their next phase. A smirk played on Spider's lips as he considered slowing down. But no, that would annoy him as much as Redips.

And then there came that moment where everything clicked into place. Once they were within three floors of each other, their thoughts and emotions blurred together until they became one. Physically they were two, but mentally they were one.

It took half a minute to get used to that again. There was Spider stepping out of the elevator and into the hall which would lead to the next lift, and there was Redips sitting at the board meeting listening to proposals to boost income while staying within laws for law enforcement organizations. At the same moment, each tapped a finger against the back of the hand, the mind working to handle standing and sitting at once. It had been years since they had been this close.

But the routines were there and Spider was soon able to keep walking down the hall while Redips stayed in the room. The latter's lips moved briefly as Spider worked to get past the final guard. Uncertain of the purple-haired stranger, the guard sent a message to Redips. When the messenger came in and whispered to him, Redips already knew what it was about, but patiently got through it and told him to let Spider up.

And then there was only a door between them. One kept two SFMs close at hand, waiting to hand one over. The other still had to listen and nod occasionally. But it was ridiculous, right? The meeting was planning for a future that would not come, so why did they have to go through with waiting? Besides, this shouldn't cost them the game.

Working back at his tablet, Redips got into the security of the level and made sure that the door would not get locked down. The instant he got control, Spider drew three cards from his dealer and threw them in rapid succession, killing the office workers outside the room.

The sounds of small explosions caused everyone in the meeting room to go alert. They may have been management, but they did have some combat training. Redips got up with some others. When one had the bright idea to hit the room's panic button, he pulled out a gun and shot him.

Before the other members of the room could get their heads around that betrayal, Spider used his SFM boosted power to kick in the door and make it fly into the opposite wall. He already had a couple more cards prepped, so they rapidly settled on targets and fired in unison.

When the last enemy had fallen, the two turned to each other. The security alarms were blaring at full volume, but that didn't trouble either of them. Spider brought out the other SFM and handed it over to Redips. "We are one again," he said.

Redips took the metal and briefly shifted to his in-between state to absorb it. On resettling on Redips' form, he nodded. "It has been too long."

Metallic footsteps were running towards the room. The two smiled and went into battle together. They had almost forgotten what this was like, but it was the way things should be.

* * *

 

_You can function like this until the danger is passed. I'll make sure of it_

X blinked, then closed his eyes. He was still in the Meteor armor, but he was sitting in a chair of some kind of transport with a pair of belts crossing over his chest. From the sounds around him, he seemed to be in an air bus. There was nothing physically wrong with him, but there was that problem in his programming…

"You back with us?" Zero asked from nearby.

Opening his eyes, he turned his head and saw Zero sitting nearby. Axl was driving the vehicle, while Palette, Butler, Marino, and Cinnamon where also going along. Glancing back, he spotted a few other Resistance members, like Saffron, Cumin, and Jasmine.

"Yeah, I'm back," X said taking off one of the belts but leaving the other. "I tried something to redirect the fallout of the SFM core meltdown, but I don't think I'll be trying that again. How long was I like that?"

"Two hours," Zero answered. "But we had to move fast. I figured if you didn't wake up by the time we got to base, we could find somewhere better to keep you."

"So what's happened?"

"Chief R got killed," Cinnamon said, sounding like she was still partly in disbelief. "It was awful."

"I was out with him on the helicopter pad," Palette said, showing some signs of being shaken but like many others in the Hunters, she had seen death a few too many times already. "Someone who looked like Roslyn Rifle showed up without warning and attacked him quickly. She knew exactly how to make her attack lethal, even though I tried to react quickly. We were waiting on the troops to return from the battle."

"We knew we were planning on returning to base anyhow about that SFM thief," Axl said. "But then when we tried to call them, we got an emergency blackout signal. These fellows from the Resistance offered to come help us and we saw no reason not to agree to it."

X nodded. "Good, that'll work in Giga City's favor. But then… Zero have you told them about the thief?"

"We didn't get very far in talking about it ourselves," Zero said, giving a negative answer.

"Hmm…" X considered it. He was certain now about what was happening, but knowing the truth made him reluctant to involve those outside the Maverick Hunters. Then again, they had to regain control of the base most likely and deal with the SFM theft.

"There's been a lot going on," Palette said. "Is this all connected?"

"It is," X said. "I've been doing research into what caused the Giga City conflict, primarily why the Rebellion members decided to take the path they did. But I found something troubling in the details. I'll tell you about it; I know parts of it will be surprising, but please let me talk through this.

"It started with Dr. Lagrano, a power hungry engineer who decided to take advantage of the lack of Maverick activity in a bid to take over the world. He gathered others who didn't mind bending ethics, or who were impressionable enough to be bent into his warped policies. With them, he started a company with a presentable face, but in the background worked to build superior military reploids, such as Chief R and many of the Rebellion members.

"While Dr. Lagrano was a brilliant man, he lacked charisma. He made many of those working for him hostile towards him, breaking his company apart. And he showed no empathy or compassion for his reploids, causing them to band together. There were a few loners among the Lagrano reploids; many caused trouble such as Ninetales, but one important one was Deo Midas, a reploid built on the general base of the next generation models like Axl."

At this, Axl tilted his head, but he was focused on driving. The others were listening to X in close attention. Mentally, X arranged his thoughts; this was a lot to get through, even if it had come through little bits and pieces in his research.

"Deo Midas was a psychopath. Eventually, he split from Lagrano's group and caused a lot of trouble in Giga City. The city governor and Chief R hired a young pair of bounty hunters, Aile and Spider, to take out Midas. The pair had recently won some fame in taking out the kitsune reploid Ninetales, but Deo Midas proved to be too much for them. Spider was killed and Aile was left nearly dead, to be mostly paralyzed for the rest of his life." X held his hand up to stop some questions; that was the troubling part. "What's odd is that Spider was the one who brought Aile to be repaired, and then he vanished.

"Back at Lagrano Tower, Epsilon had gathered like minded peers and overthrew Dr. Lagrano's authority. That was the beginning of the Rebellion. Much of what follows is now public knowledge, but the fact is, the Spider we knew wasn't actually Spider, but Deo Midas. I discovered this through Aile's journal, which Chief R lent to me, as well as a few things Spider said to me. He claimed to be made in Lagrano Tower, while Giga City records show that he was built by the Melda group. And if my group would remember, Spider did have a next-gen specific skill, the invisibility mode, which he went into the exact same way that Axl does.

"Just before the mine mission, I confronted Spider abut this and started putting pressure on him to tell the truth. I kept it quiet, hoping that he might cooperate. And I wasn't entirely sure of who he was at that time. He resisted. And what appeared to be his death is easily explainable if you know that he was next-gen: he would have avoided the blast through the invisibility mode, then slipped onto the elevator with us before the whole tunnel exploded. When I checked the mine's records, it did indicate that there were seven individuals on the elevator at that time.

"In that case, it's fairly simple to plot out his movements from there. He went to the missile silo site and waited for the opportunity to get at the SFM warhead, when Botos tried to take it for himself. And then he got into Grave Ruins Base while we were there to take that one. Finally, he showed up at Central Tower and killed Chief R, so he is still alive."

While he took a pause to consider the next revelation, Zero said, "So where would he be now?" The others still looked too stunned to realize that Spider had not been their ally.

"The Tokyo Maverick Hunter base," X said calmly, getting several gasps of surprise to that. "It may seem counter-intuitive, but there is a reason to it. You see, when checking Aile's journals and Lagrano's records, I realized what the original mistake Spider and Aile made was when they tried to take on Deo Midas. Midas is not one reploid. Midas is two.

"There is a technology that isn't seen much in reploids called the Gemini processors. I've known a pair of Gemini personally, Biggs and Wedge who were in my unit up until they both died on this mission. The Gemini processor is used to make twins, but it goes deeper than just making identical reploids. This technology mimics pseudo-psychic twin behaviors such as finishing each other sentences and mirroring each others movements. When a Gemini reploid pair is in close proximity to each other, they can essentially think as one. They will know all that the other knows.

"Now the Gemini I knew had been deliberately programmed with a bit of individuality, so they functioned normally in terms of psychology. Deo Midas was programmed to think as one individual, even though he has two bodies. It's even in his name, which they share. Yet they don't have to be taking on the same form at one time, which was how they fooled Aile: one appeared to be a simple civilian reploid when they were challenged.

"And I know who his twin has been posing as for the past few years too: Commander Redips, one of our highest ranking strategists. He had the legal power and the authority to dictate who was a Maverick and who was not. When he learned of the Rebellion's existence, he took advantage of them by driving them to extremes and then sending myself and Zero after him. And when Zero came back alone, Redips convinced Axl to leave with Zero in order to come find me. That got us out of the way so he could consolidate his power, leading to the issues that brought Palette to us."

X took a deep breath. That was a lot to get through. But he would try to summarize it.

"So the real Maverick that we're going after now is a pair of Gemini twin next-gen shapeshifters who are in possession of two supra-force metals, who can think as one and use that tactically, who have access to training as both a bounty hunter and a Maverick Hunter officer, who have access to an unknown number of forms potentially including some that we S-rank Hunters use to train against in simulators, and who are both completely nuts," X informed them.

The airbus was silent for a moment as the others contemplated that. "What are we supposed to do against someone like that?" Butler asked, nervous.

"Everything that we can do to stop them," Axl answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, but I've got some long notes for the curious to go along with it.  
> One of the problems I had to solve for this fic was what the exact relationship between Redips and Spider was. If you take it literally from the game, then they're one reploid. Spider is never there for the talks with Commander Redips and the one incident where you see his transformation glow is right after one such event. And then right after the Commander Redips fight, he turns into Spider to taunt you, then heads for the teleport located on that plaza (and in the great RPG boss tradition, he had been just standing there doing nothing when you find him). Plus, it's said that the usual end boss-run-gauntlet is possible because Spider/Redips put the data into the training simulator.  
> But there are problems with that. Redips is a high level commander in the Hunters; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to boss around the three S-level Hunters. And Spider shows up before any other party member; wouldn't he get in trouble for abandoning his post? If you're going to take over a military base, that's not going to work well. And then, Nana is made to operate a city and handle communications, while Gaudile is genius-level. Shouldn't they be able to pick up inconsistencies in a broadcast that's coming from just outside the room as opposed to who knows how many miles away? Shouldn't X be able to? Especially since the communications block the Rebellion has set up has been there all along. Well, Spider did provide static...  
> Some fans have suggested that Spider was actually some kind of drone under Redips control. I prefer this twin shapeshifter theory because it allows them to work independently and together. And the Gemini processors does have some support from the game: when you fight the Duckbill Mole twins, only one addresses you and he says 'we' only in reference to his spiked hammer. Thus, they could be two reploids with one conjoined mind. Okay, so that's not much of a proof, but hey, it's there.  
> Oh yeah, and Chief R? He gets stupidly killed between chapters 9 and 10 when the Hunter ships come to pick up the heroes and the ships instead open fire and gun him down as he's right out in the open. In fact, I assumed that reploids could be repaired from gunfire and I didn't know that he actually died until I read it several places online. Maybe it was just the sheer number of bullets that hit him.  
> I honestly don't see much purpose in killing him off as the game makes no mention of it afterwards. I have seen a decent reason for why Spider would have done it, as R had annoyed him (see his griping about R in an early cutscene). But R's death doesn't have the dramatic impact it could (though with just two chapters left to this fic, I dunno if I managed that either).


	31. In The Name of JUSTICE

From his earlier talks with Axl, Butler had heard that the layout of the Maverick Hunter base was intentionally convoluted, so that it would be harder to take over. They had had that problem in the past, so it was deemed a necessary precaution. But X wouldn't stand for wasting time, so once Palette got into contact with other trusted members, he had them teleported straight to a command center.

All around the room, there were workstations for operators to work form. In the center on an elevated platform, there was a place for the commander in charge of tactics to be, a large chair surrounded by a wide array of instruments. In the front part of the room, there was a large screen; it was currently split up into sixteen sections, each flipping between various security cameras.

And on one of those smaller screens, there was Spider, sitting lazily on a bench and playing solitaire with his cards. Next to him, there was a tall reploid that reminded Butler of a drabber and more generic R. He was working at a computer, setting something up. And on the floor, there was part of a dead reploid, ignored by the both of them.

The large chair in the center turned and a female reploid with blond hair got out of it. For a moment, she raised her eyebrows at seeing the new armors on X and Zero, but that was the only sign of acknowledgment she gave. "Good to see you back and alive, you three," she said. Then she indicated the rest of them. "So these are your allies."

X nodded. "Yes. Guys, this is Alia, Head Operator and longtime agent of ours. Alia, these are some of the forces of the Resistance, which fought the rebellion in Giga City. I trust them and we felt we may need more manpower for this."

She bowed her head to that. "That would be appreciated. X, about a third of the base has been taken from us, but such activity has slowed in the past hour. Redips turned on us, going into the open rather abruptly." She indicated the screen with them, the only one that wasn't changing. "This fellow called Spider joined up with him when he did so; we don't have many records on him and he got security access from Redips as he was coming in. It happened too quickly for anyone to notice until they started shooting."

Then it was really true, what X had said. Spider hadn't been their ally at all, just taking advantage of them to get to the SFM. And when he started getting in trouble, he bailed to work on his own. Butler felt shaken by that; his actions as Deo Midas didn't make sense to him. Still, that was why they needed to stop them. They didn't care; they didn't act like other reploids. They would kill anyone who got in their way. For this, he would have to prove his worth as Steel Massimo.

"Do you know what they're doing?" X asked.

"Given they stopped direct battles, not quite. He's trying to get a teleporter working; Layer is watching them to know where they're headed. Also, Depth Dragoon has become unbalanced possibly due to FM overload; he's taken advantage of this chaos to lock his unit's floor and set up environmental traps. We're pretty certain now it's some kind of paranoid hysteria, but he's not the biggest threat we have right now."

"All right." X looked to them and what Hunters were there. "Lorenzo, are there any other senior security officers here?"

A reploid in drab dark green armor saluted. "No sir. The only other one was killed in the initial assault. Others had been reassigned to other bases."

"I see. Gather your officers and take whatever Resistance members you need to fill out your numbers. Get back the sections of the tower taken over by Redips and Spider. Avoid them and Depth Dragoon if at all possible. You three," X pointed to him, Marino, and Cinnamon, "stick around here until things are finalized. Alia, what units and Hunters are still around here, aside from Dragoon?"

'We've got members of Dragoon's unit that didn't defect holding the boundary. The rest of 17th has gotten transferred to New York for an investigation and many other units got reassigned. We have the 22nd and 39th partially here, and four other Hunters besides. They working with security to get hold our areas."

X nodded. "Right keep them at that." Lorenzo had already called many of the Giga City members into another room, so the command area was less crowded. "We don't have time for a full report, but the situation is that Redips and Spider are known as Deo Midas, a next-gen Gemini reploid pair currently empowered by two rare and concentrated supra-force metals. We will need to go after them once they get somewhere. Now," he then turned to them. "Massimo, Marino, and Cinnamon, I appreciate all the help you've given us. But you've heard how dangerous the situation is. I'll give you the option of either joining the three of us in pursuit of Deo Midas or staying back here to secure the base."

While it was frightening, Butler felt a strong conviction that those two needed to be stopped, and although his efforts might not be as great as the three Maverick Hunters, anything would help. "I'll see this mission through with you, despite the danger," he said. It was the kind of confident and powerful tone that the original Steel Massimo had, but now it came from him in pure honesty.

"I'll go with you too," Cinnamon said. "I'll help in any way I can."

"You know, I'd hate missing out on the last part of this show," Marino said. "Sure, I'm in."

From the look in his face, he had expected that but was still grateful. "Good. Alia, you keep things coordinated between groups. Palette, watch over the security group with Lorenzo. Whenever Layer is done, have her watch over us."

Alia bowed. "Yes sir." Then she went back to the command chair to get to work. Palette left their group for a nearby operator's station to log in.

'They are so efficient,' Butler thought. Of course, they had to be. And here people had originally thought he'd been military trained when he first took over the Massimo armor.

X spent a moment gathering his thoughts. So Zero spoke up, "Okay you three, this is most likely a mission where we can't stop to get explanations. Save your energy until we catch up to Deo Midas; follow your orders quickly as possible, don't try something without warning one of us. X, are you sure you're ready for combat after what happened against Epsilon?"

"Mostly," he said. "Zero, if you think my behaviors are getting erratic or out of line, then take over for me. I might drop back to stoic mode if I know there's problems, but I will warn you. We just don't have time and I'm running stable enough now."

"Alia, they're headed for the Central Pacific Space Elevator Rail," Layer said, finally turning and noticing them. She gave a simple wave.

"******* space elevators," Butler heard Zero mutter softly.

"Right, then that's where we're headed," X said. "Layer, you're with us on the radio; key in to my personal network. Alia will get you up to speed."

"Gotcha," she said, turning back to her work.

"Let's go," Axl said, pointing back to the teleport pad.

They had barely gotten into the elevator launch facility when X started in on instructions and having them cross the large room. " _Don't let them know how much we know. They will think they have an advantage in us being ignorant. During the fight, I will regularly ask who you are attacking. I don't want either of them to get ignored."_

All around them, there were nervous and frightened people who were keeping out of the way, bewildered at what was going on. Ahead of them, the elevator rails were gearing up for launch, even though the timetable sign indicated it wasn't due for another forty-five minutes. And then Layer's voice came over the public intercom. "All civilians, please evacuate this facility immediately," she ordered. "The Maverick Hunters are in pursuit of dangerous individuals; please leave the area now."

" _I don't get why our criminals keep being attracted to space elevators,"_ Zero said over the line. " _I'm getting sick of them and those two went right in that one."_

X smiled as Axl chuckled. " _They like to feel on top of the world, I would guess,"_ Marino piped in.

" _It may prevent them from using large forms_ ," X noted. " _Whether that's good or not, we'll have to see."_

The six of them rushed onto the elevator, just before the doors started closing. It appeared to be a three level model, with the cargo space below them, passenger space where they were, and an observation deck above. At the moment, the passenger level was completely empty, just rows of seats. Zero indicated they were up, so they climbed the stairs. Butler thought he heard something behind them, but dismissed it and went up last.

At the edge to the left of the stairs, Redips and Spider were facing each other, seemingly not speaking. They turned to see them at the exact same time. Redips remained stony faced, but Spider smirked. "Well now, I've heard of quick response times, but this is ridiculous," he said.

" _Wait a bit_ ," X told his group, then said aloud, "Redips, Spider, you're both under arrest for multiple murders, theft of dangerous materials, impersonation of a law enforcement officer, treason, and other charges as found. If you resist arrest, we are enabled to use lethal force against you."

"I don't think you can arrest us at this point," Redips said, with a quiet kind of confidence. "Perhaps in the law, you can find reason, but we now hold a power that is above the law. There's no way you could subdue us."

"That power could overwhelm and corrupt you," X said. "Give it up and we will assess you for rehabilitation. That is the law."

Butler felt rather grateful that it was a law now. Although, it must not have worked properly. Otherwise, his predecessor would not have been hiding from the law. Nevertheless, he was here to defend those who couldn't defend themselves against this threat. He could determine how fair the laws were later.

"You really are a straight arrow, aren't you?" Spider said.

"Your advantage in numbers does not count," Redips said.

"We won't give up on the game." At this point, the elevator began to tremble and hiss.

"I am the shield,"

"I am the sword."

"And you will die," they both said at once, just before the rail rockets fired, shooting the elevator straight up into the sky.

As the structure blurred around them, X began giving orders. " _Zero, take Spider; Axl, take Redips as you are. Marino, switch between targets and see if you can find the SFM on them. Take and throw them down the stairs if you can."_

At this point, the other three were moving quickly to their duties, while Redips and Spider launched their attacks. Massimo got himself in the way of a card flying after Cinnamon. The blur of the rail structure than vanished as the elevator continued to fly for the outer atmosphere, and outer space beyond.

" _Cinnamon, stay back, shoot where you can and heal as needed, but the primary thing I want you to do is keep track of the SFMs. Can you tell the difference between them_?" X then fired a volley of missiles at Spider; they arced around Zero and struck the gambler reploid from behind.

" _Yes, they have unique tones_ ," Cinnamon replied.

" _Good, then use them to keep track of our targets until Marino or someone can get the metals away. Massimo, you stick by Cinnamon and attack either of them if they get too close to her, but stay within a few feet of her. And keep an eye on the battle for me; if anything changes, tell me just in case."_ He then shot off to the side with his armor's hover engines and found a place to fire without getting any of the others in the way.

" _Will do,"_ Massimo said, glancing over to check on Cinnamon. She came right to his side and began watching the battle too. While that might put him out of the direct battle most of the time, he could understand that a second pair of eyes would be helpful to keep track of things.

Or a third, as Layer came onto the line, _"I'm not getting visuals for the elevator, but I do have other data incoming. Massimo, Cinnamon, head back to the corner on your right and behind you; that should be the best defendable position on the field."_

" _Right, thanks_ ," he said. He hovered partly backwards along the ground, to keep an eye on the fighters and trusting that Cinnamon would keep out of his way.

Not quite there, Spider managed to break out of his fight with Zero and dashed over to them. While he got his Jet Lance ready, he saw Zero bring out his buster and fire, hitting Spider in the back. Massimo took advantage of that to clobber Spider with the weight of his weapon.

Knocked aside several feet, Spider collapsed to the ground. Massimo continued to back up towards the corner, which turned out to be a smart move. Spider's form got swallowed up by a bright white glow, then grew rapidly. Next thing he knew, Silver Horn was standing up right where Spider had fallen.

" _Spider's turned to Silver Horn,"_ Massimo reported.

" _He was there when we defeated him_ ," X said, right before firing off his large cannon barrel at Silver Horn. Only responding with a grunt, Silver Horn made his long horns glow, then attempted to charge at Massimo. His love metal reacted quickly, getting him to block the attack.

Silver Horn still tried to push towards him. Massimo clenched his lance in both hands and pushed back. For a few seconds, it seemed like neither side would give.

" _Redips has turned to Wild Jango_ ," Axl reported. Massimo couldn't see that end of the battle field anymore thanks to the walrus reploid's great berth.

" _Use Ninetales to fight him_ ," X recommended, shooting Silver Horn again. " _See if you can direct him into Silver Horn, if the chance comes up."_

And then Zero ripped into Silver Horn with his Absolute Zero armor. Despite the fact that Silver Horn had been a highly defensive reploid as the real person, Zero was able to slam his clawed hands into his metal hide, then rip off nearly his entire backside and throw it aside. He then kicked directly into Silver Horn's internal parts and took him out that way.

" _Holy bleep,"_ Axl said over the line. _"I don't think I've ever seen anyone do something like that before."_

" _I think we now know why she wanted to call it the Holy Armor_ ," Marino joked.

Perhaps it was an inappropriate time to crack a joke, but Massimo smiled a little. That wasn't a way he would have interpreted it. He backed up again as Silver Horn turned into a white glow. Then another reploid's form emerged from the glow, immediately turning to slam a rock needle into Zero's face. " _Silver Horn's turned to Dr. Psyche_ ," Massimo said.

Then Layer came over the line, " _Guys, this pair seems to be regenerating entirely when they transform. I don't detect any energy loss either, although that may be the SFMs at work. It doesn't matter how easily the forms go down; if those forms can be restored, or if they each have access to all forms, then they could easily outlast you."_

While she spoke, Psyche had gotten knocked out by X, only to reemerge as Psyche's Mad Nautilus form. Off on the other side, Massimo could see Jango exchanging blows with a tall man with fox ears and nine fox tails. X had switched over to supporting Axl while Marino briefly appeared on top of the Nautilus to try getting his cover stuck open. Cinnamon had left Massimo's side to quickly heal Zero of the dizziness that had been inflicted on him, but it didn't take long for her to come right back.

" _Marino, what about the SFMs?"_ X asked.

" _Not having any luck so far,"_ she reported, leaping off the Nautilus as its cover opened. Zero soon dash flew up to him to snap off the glowing horn. He then turned it around and jammed it into the Nautilus's exposed parts. Marino continued, " _I can feel the energy, but I can't pinpoint it."_

" _When they're in humanoid forms, it seems to be in one of their shoulders_ ," Cinnamon suggested.

" _In? That could be a problem."_ Marino jumped aside as the Mad Nautilus turned into a white glow. " _Psyche is now Incentias_."

" _Jango's now Jentra_ ," Axl added.

Shortly after that, there was a loud crashing tumble down the stairs.

* * *

 

That had once been their strategic commander. The thought briefly passed through Axl's mind, but he pushed it aside for lather consideration. In a battle like this, it was often pay attention or die. In the form of Ninetales, he watched as Mach Jentra emerged from the glow. After reporting it to the others, Axl sent a Mega Thunder spell at him. That was another good thing about this form: it had multiple elemental attacks.

From the battle in Ulfat, he knew Jentra preferred to keep away and shoot fire at enemies. Expecting that turned out to be a mistake. This Jentra used his jets to rush at Axl and slam into him. Stunned by the blow, Axl couldn't react as they both fell through the hole in the floor and tumbled down the stairs. On the passenger deck, this half of Deo Midas landed on top of him and grinned unnervingly.

"We don't like other shapeshifters to be around," he said. "We won't let you remai... ugh!"

Although he had taking a bad amount of damage, Axl got up enough to see Ferham smash Jentra into the wall, then activate her electro-magnetic whip right under his chin. "You were the ones who ruined us," she hissed. "I will get revenge and redeem us."

Jentra turned into that white glow, making it hard to hold onto him. But then Ferham put her hand into the transformation glow and snatched out the supra-force metal. That was gutsy, Axl thought. Had she been a second too late, she would have gotten her hand fused into Deo Midas' next body.

" _Ferham is here!"_ he messaged the others. " _But she is against them. She took his SFM… and Jentra is now Katelyn Knife_."

The teenaged-girl reploid twirled her twin plasma knives, considering whether to attack him or Ferham. Axl threw another Mega Thunder at her, then rushed up the stairs to get back to the others. As he heard a shriek of rage behind him, he kept going until he reached a corner and then turned around.

He did so just in time to see a different kind of energy flash, that of a Giga Attack being unleashed. It came from the Spider half of Deo Midas. Right as the flash appeared, so did dozens of meteorites. They swarmed down on the space elevator, so near and so fast that it was almost impossible to dodge them. Axl got knocked back onto the ground by one; between it and the damage from the stair fall, he was in a lot of pain. Then there was a large explosion, shaking the elevator structure and knocking it out of its trajectory path. Even worse, it began to tilt slightly.

Out of his sight, Axl heard X's arm cannon fire. Seconds later, X said, " _Ferham has the other SFM; Marino, go fight Katelyn. Zero, get Roslyn. Cinnamon, get yourself and Massimo healed, then take care of Axl. Axl, you just stay still."_

" _Glad to hear that_ ," he commented.

Ferham jetted back; but the engines on her back sputtered and began to smoke. With only one wing, this nearly caused her to fall over. She arrived at the corner right as Axl saw another teen-girl reploid, this one with a rifle that looked larger than she should be able to handle. As the rifle came up, Ferham curled her one wing in; ice energy gathered around her and frozen into a solid shield. Roslyn fired, but the bullet ricocheted off the shield harmlessly into space.

" _Axl, did she steal the other by waiting for a transformation too?"_ X asked.

" _Right,"_ he said.

" _Okay… Zero, get an attack charged up but hold it. Marino, force Katelyn to transform, then Zero, hit her with all you've got. If I can't make Roselyn do the same, force her too."_

Turning his head so that he could watch, Axl saw Marino striking Katelyn with two of her mini-blades, followed up with a kick to the chest. Katelyn stumbled back and began to glow. Then Zero rushed in and used icy claws to swipe deep within the light. There was a masculine scream, and a new reploid stumbled out of the light. He had gold and white armor with a tall shield attached to his left arm.

" _That should have damaged his transformation system_ ," X said. " _He should stay defeated when we defeat that form."_

By then, Massimo and Cinnamon got over to Axl. Cinnamon started work on healing him while X managed to knock Roselyn into transforming too. Then there was a tremendous blast as X unleashed a charged shot from the Meteor armor. That worked so effectively that the sword Deo Midas got blown into the safety wall and immediately killed, knocking out a large chunk of the railing in the process. His body shattered into many pieces, dropping the two-handed gold plasma great sword he appeared with. Other than that weapon clattering on the ground, he would have looked identical to the other Deo Midas.

For a moment, the shield reploid froze, faced with the unanticipated death of his twin. Then he howled with rage and began bashing his shield into Zero. Zero fought back, eventually grabbing Deo Midas and hurling him across the elevator to where they were. Immediately, Massimo slammed his lance into his head, killing him too.

The elevator was tilting steeper now, enough that the two bodies began sliding off towards the edge. As Axl got up, the ice shield nearby vanished and Ferham stood back up. Her body was trembling and it looked like she had gotten into a bad fight before they had arrived. "Are they dead?" she asked.

"If they aren't, the re-entry will destroy what's left," X said. "Let's get into the elevator; its shields are still active so we should survive inside."

She clasped the two SFMs to her body. "No. On behalf of the Rebellion, I apologize for what's happened, and being manipulated by these two traitors as well." She looked up at them, a determined look on her face. "I will make things right."

Then she stepped back and fell off the edge of the space elevator.

She was serious, Axl realized. As damaged as she was, she wouldn't survive reentry either. But as he thought that maybe she would set things about this conflict right, X took a few steps forward, a stunned expression on his face. "Shit," he said.

"X, we'd better get in now," Zero said sharply, getting everyone there to snap out of shock. "It'll get dangerous in a minute."

"Right, let's go," he said, although he waited for the rest of them to get in before joining them too. As he put in the codes for the elevator to seal up, he still looked extremely concerned.

"What's eating you?" Axl asked. "We didn't see much of her, so I wouldn't expect that kind of reaction out of you from…"

"It's not her," X said, still working. "It's a major loss that the last authority of the Rebellion is dead, but she had the two SFMs with her. Don't you remember? Force metals explode when overheated, and they release a burst of energy that can instantly corrupt anyone caught in it." When the computer acknowledged the orders and sealed up the elevator as best it could, he stepped back and shook his head. "They may blow high enough that those on the surface won't be badly affected. But we're up here. We'll mostly like be right near the center of the explosion."

He left it at that, but he didn't need to say anything more. Axl looked around at his companions, seeing them all worried. At any moment, they might be blasted with such energy that they would no longer be who they were. They would be Maverick.

And there wasn't anything they could do about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter of the game is mostly filler, so I tried to rearrange it to cut it all out, even if it meant entirely cutting out one boss (Depth Dragoon). And make use of my interpretation of Spider/Redips. I once saw a post that compared their final form to that of the Pokémon Palkia and I cannot unsee that now.  
> Also, there's a glaring plothole here. Remember back in Chapter 8 when we're told that if the SFM missile blows up, it'll release some kind of energy that will turn reploids Maverick? And then in Chapter 10, there are lines for Cinnamon, Marino, and Massimo (not many, but they're there), including for the Great Redips battle. Most players will use them to clear the first Great Redips round, at least using Marino to steal the best force metals in the game. When Ferham takes the SFM, she only takes it from one shoulder; there is clearly a second on Redips' other shoulder. When he dies, he blows up. And when Ferham dies, she's carrying an SFM into reentry. So that's two super-powered metals blowing up and releasing that Maverick energy.  
> And in the final cutscene, you only see X, Zero, and Axl.  
> Guess what happened?  
> Note: That's just my theory. There's no official explanation of what happened to the other three.


	32. After the War

It was about the game. It was always about the game. No matter what happened, life always turned out to be some game where you lost or won, where strategy and luck were required. Altruism was only another strategy, usually a poor one as it helped others win and cost you more.

While some people could fool themselves into being ignorant of the game, Deo Midas had always thought of the game. Every identity stolen was done strategically: another face to fool with, another life's work to take advantage of. But whenever he won, the game continued. Winning was only a brief state before he had to keep playing. And there was always a higher goal to achieve, a greater win to pursue. When he finally got to the top, he would have to keep playing to stay in place.

He wanted that, though. He wanted to be at the top, the ultimate winner. And for a short time, it had seemed completely within his grasp. The supra-force metals were beyond any other tool or power available. With that backing him up, he should have been a shoo-in for the lead player.

And so, he had taken a risk. The plan had been to simply take over the Maverick Hunters and slowly build power to infiltrate the rest of the government. But then that seemed like such a low target to aim for. With both halves reunited, he had decided to gamble all or nothing. There were weapons in orbit that he could access with the knowledge of Redips and others. Enhancing that to be a fortress and keeping the SFMs for personal power, that should have secured his position for years to come. He could have won the game and kept that win permanently.

Instead, the gamble turned up snake eyes. He had not taken X and the others seriously when they had arrived; surely the power of the SFMs would make a win guaranteed. But they had taken it seriously. They had not played it like a game. They played it like business.

They had won. And in the fires of re-entry, he knew that he had finally lost.

This loss was permanent.

* * *

 

It was the only way to end things, she felt. What use was there in her continuing to live? Sure, she'd finally be free of obligations… once she testified for the innocence of the Rebellion, explained the real story, spread the actual ideals they wanted, and spoke with the others of Giga City saying that what happened wasn't really what should have happened at all. That could take years.

But could she really bear it? They were all gone. Jango, Incentias, Psyche… sure, that lot had changed when their revolution turned to war, but they had been like her, forced to conform to a mold without their input on the matter. And Epsilon was gone. He had known suffering all too well and he wanted to end it, along with other injustices the reploid race had to bear. All he wanted was to make things better, and he would put the needs of others ahead of his own in order to do so. For that self-sacrifice, he had been manipulated and pushed onto the path of war which he had been trying to leave.

And Scarface was gone. She might have been able to bear the loss of the others, even all of them, if Scarface had survived. But he too took his duty seriously, to the point where he put his life on the line and lost it. While he was a loyal and honorable man, he had died just like all the others.

Well, there was that Luna girl. But she wasn't one of Lagrano's reploids. She wasn't really one of them. And, she had been acting peculiar towards the end too. Perhaps she should have gotten to know her better. But it was too late to keep regrets like that.

No, Ferham was all alone. At one time, she thought she would fly away from the troubles of land and be free in the sky, but now she was falling, with the immense world filling her vision below. It made her feel rather small, and maybe not as powerful as she thought she was.

Up here, she couldn't really blame the Resistance or the Maverick Hunters. The Resistance had ideals too; perhaps they had been right to take up arms in defense of their human friends and in defiance of being made to stay separate. And the Hunters, they were doing their job. With the rampant destruction that Mavericks had caused over the years, they had unfortunately learned to react strongly against those who tried to break the system. Maybe this would teach them to cool down.

Ferham didn't mind that she was going to die. She was outdoors, in the sky, no longer tied to anything. And she was going to be with Scarface and Epsilon soon, if such a thing as the afterlife existed. Most of all, the SFMs she was holding onto wouldn't be around anymore for anyone else to abuse their power.

And that was good.

* * *

 

The elevator was still tilting, enough to make it hard to stand up straight. The elevator's shields were normally invisible, but with one of the engines blown, the upper damaged side was starting to turn pink. From this high up, the descent back to earth would take several minutes. But at some unknown point, the two SFMs outside would blow to pieces. They might get killed immediately in the blast, or they might immediately get corrupted from the powerful energy swarming around them. They might also survive both, but would they all?

Under that uncertain doom, no one knew what to say.

X stayed near the pilot's computer, trying to think. He was the leader of the group and it was his responsibility to see to the safety of the group. If anything happened to the others, he would take the blame for it (even if he was the only one giving the blame). But try as he might, he kept finding dead ends. The SFMs were too close, as he could sense both of them. Running the remaining engines was more likely to send them into a spiral that would make that eventual crash worse. As a last line of defense, it was possible to willfully resist a corruption… but sometimes even that didn't help. There were no shields on the elevator capable of blocking both the explosion and the corruptive wave… there was nothing.

Near the lowest wall, Zero was standing with one foot on that wall and the other on the floor. His eyes were closed, that dragon tail of his armor twitched, and his fist was clenched. This was so frustrating! He had no fear of dying, but to die after a victorious battle in a situation where he was helpless, that was shameful. Even worse, his friends, the old and the new, were all here. They could die or become Maverick and there was still nothing he could do about it. He wasn't supposed to be helpless. And that was one fear that he kept secret.

Axl paced around that room, looking at things and trying to think of a solution too. He had a few flight forms, but none big enough to save everyone. X and Zero were both capable of flight now too, but could they get the rest carried away? Zero's form didn't look too stable for carrying another person, and then there was the problem of Butler with his Massimo armor. Even if they could all get everyone in the air, could they fly away fast enough? And it would only take a moment of weakness to drop one of their allies and send them to yet another death. The worst part about this was that it seemed they couldn't do anything. Axl never liked standing still; this waiting and uncertainty were torturous.

Bracing himself against two walls and the floor, Butler was trying not to think how he would be if he was corrupted. If he were on his own, then he might not be much trouble. But with the Massimo armor, he would be very hard to stop. He didn't want to hurt people, but who knew what was going to happen? He also felt like he understood better how his mentor had felt, not wanting to hurt others by staying gruff and antisocial, but wanting to make up for the past by helping without expecting a reward. If the only thing he could do to keep from hurting others was to keep away from them (or at least detached in feelings), then he would probably do so no matter how tough it was.

In defiance of the tilting floor, Marino sat in one of the passenger seats. So this was it, she thought. After all her efforts to straighten out, she'd been caught trying to do something good and selfless and now forces were conspiring to get her corrupted once again. It wasn't fair. But even worse than that, the others here would be corrupted too, and they hadn't done anything wrong. They had been out to stop one problem and they had succeeded. But now they might be unleashing an even bigger problem if they all returned to earth as FM Mavericks. There probably wouldn't be second chances for this.

Cinnamon watched the others, trying to think of something to say. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to help them with. Cheer them up? Tell them everything would be okay? But it was so uncertain, and very unlikely that things would turn out okay. There was nothing out there that would make everything okay, it seemed. Maybe it was times like this that were the reason why humans had made up religions, she thought. In the event of a time of hopelessness, they might still hope that there was a greater force of goodness out there that would make things work out all right in the end. Not knowing what was out there, or knowing if she'd ever see her father again, that was the most horrible feeling she had ever experienced.

_We can help._

Everyone in the room stopped or tensed at that voice. It wasn't any of them, but it seemed to come from in the elevator with them. "Who is that?" Marino asked.

"It's the force metals?" X said, sounding like he suspected it but was uncertain.

"Oh, the love metals!" Cinnamon said, bringing one hand up to her face. On the side of her arm where she kept her metals, there was a small white glow.

_Don't be afraid of us,_ the voice said.

_We just wanted to help_ , another said. _Our purpose is to help. If we don't then we've failed_.

_But this will take our full energy,_ a third said. _This will be the end of us._

_But that means we've fulfilled our mission to help you._

_Don't be afraid of us, or the others._

And then there were six cracks around the room as each of the love metals brought up a white shield around their hosts. This was followed by a double explosion outside as the two SFMs overheated catastrophically. Sparks filled the elevator's shields as it tried to bear the brunt of the physical blast. While it held, the whole structure shuddered.

For a minute, the six of them were witnesses to something peculiar. White streaks of light raced out from the explosion and straight through the elevator, as if physical barriers meant nothing to them. There seemed to be hundreds of them, briefly filling the space. When the lights encountered the shields, they spilled away from them like oil off of water. At the tail end of it, one light got hit by Massimo's and Zero's shields, slowing down enough that it hit the floor and skipped off it instead of going through it. It ended up by X's feet, where it quickly became dim and solid.

X knelt down, putting a hand against the wall to remain steady, and grabbed the item before it slid away. As he got up, he examined it. "It's a regular force metal," he said. "Protect 5, it seems."

"It feels normal to me," Cinnamon said. "So there's going to be millions of them out there, shooting across the sky like little stars?" She loved that image in her mind and wished she could actually see it.

"It seems so." After giving it a final look, he tossed it over to Marino. "You have the weakest defense of all of us; put that on and go hang onto Butler."

"Okay then," Marino said, trading it for another metal before getting up.

"Massimo you stay over there and hold onto that railing," X then said. "Try not to get thrown off; the elevator can take absorb much of the blow, but it's still going to be a rough landing. The rest of you, just get somewhere you feel secure. We're probably going to all end up with more damage from this, so brace yourselves."

Zero relaxed where he was. "Don't worry; it's easier surviving a fall in here than surviving a blast like that, so we're already at better odds."

And then, Axl laughed, really breaking up the tension. "Yeah, we three have already done this once, so we can do it again."

While the others laughed, Zero said, "But this is why I hate space elevators and the villains that insist on using them." He did give a brief half-smile though.

Not long after that, the elevator splashed into the ocean. It jolted all of them and X had to catch Cinnamon to keep her from crashing into Axl. Down below, they heard the rushing sound of water entering the cargo area. X used his Nova Cannon on the stairway door so they could all escape to the observation deck.

There was a giant crack down the middle of the deck, with many smaller cracks coming off it. Surrounding them on all sides was the vast blue ocean and the vast blue sky. Nothing else seemed to be out there. "This thing isn't going to stay buoyant for long and the depths of the ocean would kill us," Marino said. "What now?"

"I know what to do!" Axl called out, excited. He dashed to the edge and leapt off, letting a bright white glow surround him. Right as he hit the water, he transformed into a giant red sea monster, with a large armored body, long oar-like flippers, and an arrow-shaped head on a tall thin neck. "I've been looking for a practical use of this form for ages! Hop aboard."

Marino and Cinnamon were easily able to jump out onto Axl the sea monster's back. X and Zero had to use their armor's flight capabilities to help Butler get over, as the Massimo armor's hover boots wouldn't take him out that far. But once he got there, Axl seemed to have no trouble swimming at the surface with his three passengers.

X and Zero flew just in front of him. "According to the satellites, we're not too far from Giga City waters," he said, pointing north. "Gimialla Mine should be reachable before dark. Is everyone ready?"

"Yes!" came a call from the three Giga City residents. Axl gave a bellowing call, while Zero just nodded.

X smiled at them. "Good, then onward back home, crew!"

* * *

 

'As it turns out, force metals may only be the physical form of electronic life forms that can exist in a symbiotic relationship with reploids. While we are still trying to find out their true origins, they seem to have a compulsion and need to help others. They cannot fully be aware and existent without a host, thus they do all that they can to enhance the host's life. Research is still ongoing about categorizing and evaluating them, as well as discovering why some go demonic and corruptive. But used in moderation, these beings can be of great assistance to us.'

'It has been proposed to rename these beings cyber elves, for Electronic Life Form, and to differentiate them from the elf-folk of human legend.'

Professor Gaudile was going through this report carefully. He had been asked to write about current force metal developments for a popular science magazine, one that often had scientific laymen in its target audience. After years of writing purely for scientific journals, getting the language down to a clear relate-able form was a challenge. But it was important to share knowledge and now he understood that many people out there were willing to give him credit for his work, and respect him for it.

In that pause, the door to his work lab opened. "Professor, have you taken a break today?" Cinnamon asked, coming over with a plate and two glasses.

"Well I've got deadlines to meet, and the whole lab to get back into working order," he replied. "But if you're going to make me, I suppose I can tolerate one for a little while."

She laughed and set down her things, including the plate of crackers, sliced cheese, and sliced sausages. "If I don't make you, then who will?"

For a short while, it was almost like old times, just a pleasant afternoon chat with his daughter. But she was more independent and worldly now. She had her own opinions about things and wasn't afraid to speak them. And she was interested in the world beyond the forest lab too, wanting to see and do more, but always coming back because they were family. Gaudile felt that if he had felt like this about Dr. Lagrano, then his life would have been quite different.

But Lagrano didn't love him, or any of his creations. Instead, Cinnamon loved him as her father. He wouldn't give that away for anything else in the world.

"Oh, X has asked me to come back to the Maverick Hunter base," Cinnamon said at one point.

"To join them?" Gaudile asked. "It's up to you if you want that, but remember to come visit me."

She giggled. "No, not about that. He wants me to help him with some experiments with the cyber elves. You've been trying to get them less dependent on the metals, but he wants to see how well they can combat the Maverick virus. And due to that, they can only do the experiments there. Oh, but don't worry. We're going to take every precaution we can to prevent infections during the experiments."

"Of course he'd do that," Gaudile said. It was still a highly dangerous experiment to perform, and Gaudile didn't even know any details beyond what she had just told him. But X would know what he was doing, and he could trust Cinnamon. "As much as it worries me, it might be the biggest breakthrough yet if he can control the virus through cyber elves. I'll offer any assistance I can, and if you want to as well, that would be wonderful."

Cinnamon smiled. "Of course."

And he smiled back at her. "Just be careful around all those young men around there. Don't let them try anything on you."

Her smile widened as she held a fist up. "Oh if they do, I'm sure that when I tell them that Zero personally trained me, then they'll back right off."

They both laughed at that.

* * *

 

In the 775 Plaza of Giga City, the two tall lanterns had been replaced with lighted memorials to those who had fallen in the Rebellion and Resistance conflict. On one pillar, there was an abbreviated story of how the conflict came about, as well as the names of the Rebellion members who had their Maverick status taken away posthumously. It ended up not being a long list, but Epsilon was right at the top followed by Scarface and Ferham.

On the other pillar, there was a listing of the Resistance members who had died in the conflict. It was a much longer list and Butler had to search for the names he was looking for. There was Chief R and Aile on the top of one side, being the pair whom most people saw as the local leaders in the conflict. In the middle of one side, there was Joan and Michael; X had told him about them, a pair of sweethearts who had been sent together to Gimialla Mine after it had been taken. From their autopsies, it seemed that Spider in one form or another had found and killed them while they were trying to help the miners out.

And it was way down near the bottom, but there it was: Steel Massimo.

Butler was out of the armor at the moment, but he still had to kneel down to see it. He had said that he would rather die as an unknown prisoner, but Butler had decided that people should know the truth. Even after he'd let that knowledge become public, people asked him when the original had died and when he had taken his place. They were surprised to learn that indeed he had fought alongside X and the other Hunters the whole time.

At one point, X had told him that he could leave the armor behind and walk away from conflict any time he wanted. For some time, Butler wasn't sure what he wanted to do. But then it had come to him: it was either serving a few people in one household as a butler, or serving all the peoples in the world as a Maverick Hunter. That had made it a much easier choice.

"Butler!" a child's voice called out. The little girl reploid with red pigtails came over and hugged him.

He hugged her back. "Hello there Annette. How're things going?"

"They're going to start up school again," she said, letting go to look at him face to face. "I'll like being with my friends again, but I hope none of the classes are boring."

"They're only boring if you make them that way."

"I guess," she said, halfheartedly accepting the advice. "So, can I? Can I go with you?"

"Not for my training, no," he said. When she pouted, he rubbed her head. "But once I pass that and get accepted officially, then yes, you can come live with me and we'll make the adoption official."

She cheered for that and hugged him once again. She had lost her mother and he had lost the children he had cared for before. But they weren't replacing those loved ones; they were making their own family.

* * *

 

She had once saved the world alongside X, Zero, and Axl. Many of the recruits and the training officers knew Marino had been one of that group. But that didn't mean they took things easy on her. No, she got pushed harder and judged tougher than all the other new recruits. Well, except for Butler, and she didn't see him most days.

But as she ran through challenge courses and fought through simulated enemies, she could easily say that she liked that. When she had been in FM recovery, she had often stolen things purely out of boredom. She couldn't get bored in Maverick Hunter training. She was constantly made to test her limits and train until she was exhausted. And she felt good about it; her progress through the training courses was excellent.

She wasn't as thrilled with class and debriefing sessions, but recognized their importance enough to tolerate them. But they had their bright spots, such as the day that one of the instructors stopped in front of her seat. "And Marino, you were the only one in the class who attempted to get a surrender from the enemy. Would you explain why?"

She had been successful in getting that surrender, but declined on commenting, knowing that it would get backlash as ego-stroking. "I stole the safety ring off one foe's flamethrower and he quit using it. That told me that he was either clean as he realized it was dangerous and avoided it, or that he was one of the more dangerous ones that keeps their mind mostly intact as the infection develops. After a show of force, I gave them the option."

Although the instructor kept a stern look, he didn't discount her statement. "And you gave the correct judgment base on that observation. The ones who surrendered were clean of infections." This caused some discomfort in her classmates as the instructor went back to the front and center of the classroom. "There were other signs too, which I will elaborate on."

Marino kept her smile to herself; sometimes having experience as a thief was quite useful on the other side of the law.

* * *

 

Dr. Palei and Axl walked along the tunnel from the mass transit system. "Well sure, e-crystal mining is mostly stable right now, thanks to crystal sowing," Palei said. "But when those facilities get wiped out in large attacks, they're difficult and expensive to start up again. We're at a good position now, but if we don't make plans for the future, there may be an energy crystal crisis a few generations down."

"Like if those experiments in giving cyber elves e-crystals works?" Axl asked.

"Especially if those work out," she said. "Given that a permanent effect seems to require the destruction of the physical entity of the elf, and how they might be able to return, I think it would need a lot of e-crystals." She paused at the end of the tunnel. "Now let's see where he might be…"

The port they had arrived at wasn't as crowded as the one they had left, so it wasn't long before they found a man who was wearing a lab coat with a private laboratory logo on it. He smiled warmly to them and shook their hands. "Dr. Palei and the Maverick Hunter Axl, is it? It's an honor to meet you both; I hardly thought I would get the chance. My name is Dr. William Weil, but please, just call me Weil."

"Good to meet you too, sir," Axl said. It was odd, but he found himself thinking that Weil had eyes like X had: not in color, but in the way they expressed intelligence, observance, and attentiveness. It was an interest in people that made one feel at ease in talking to him.

"Well I'm pleased that you would take the time to speak with us," Palei said. "Especially about Dr. Lagrano."

He nodded. "Yes, about him… look, I'm terribly sorry for any trouble I may have unwittingly assisted in back in those days. I grew to admire him through his work and was greatly flattered when he took me in as his personal intern. But as time wore on, I couldn't ignore the signals that something wasn't right with the company. I didn't feel like I could blow the whistle on him, though, since I was just starting out and he was rich enough to ruin any potential future I had in vengeance."

"I know how that feels, believe me," Palei said.

"Were you able to get into his networks?" Axl asked, keenly interested in that part of this meeting.

"Yes, I was able to make some headway into that," Weil said. Then he indicated the doors. "Why don't we head over to my lab and residence, where I can show you specifically. I have got the list narrowed down to a few who might have best known your creator, or have even been that person. I've also discovered for files on the next gen technology which you may be interested in."

By the time they had reached his vehicle, Weil was already treating them like dear friends and talking readily with them. He was a fascinating person, in Axl's opinion. And he would likely be a great asset in the future.

* * *

 

When creating programming for a new reploid, one should take great care to make certain that it could accommodate unexpected circumstances. Far too many engineers still felt like a reploid could be programmed for their niche and left like that. X wasn't one of them. While he had a good idea what this one would be good at, he wanted to leave enough open-endedness for the individual to decide, when he was mature enough to decide.

"Back at your personal designs, huh?" Zero asked casually.

"Hmm?" X glanced over and saw his friend in the chair beside him. He hadn't noticed him coming in. After a glance over to make sure no one else had snuck in he said, "Oh, yes… while I have the moment. I really would like to see them through to completion, but who knows?" There had been something nagging at his mind that just now got through. Right, it was that time. "Are you ready for the experiment?"

Zero leaned back in the chair and put his feet up on an unused console. "Ready as I'll ever be," he said. "Are you ready to make me your guinea pig again?"

He smiled at that. "Just about."

"But one thing I want to know before we start," Zero added, "is what the heck happened to you after the Epsilon fight. You told me you diverted the force of the explosion through yourself, and that's why your Nova Cannon blew through the entire half of Grave Ruins, but what did it do to you to cause an emergency partial shutdown?"

X moved to save his progress. "That. It fractured my personality data."

"Fractured your personality?" X could detect hints of concern in that.

"Not fully," he said. "It's…" he put his hand up, thinking. He had to explain it right, so he had to shift his focus. "You know how you have different modes for fighting with various weapons? Not an actual mode change, but a change in behavior, thoughts, and reactions?"

"You could say that."

X tapped his head. "That's what's happened to me. My personality is still whole and now that I've done some repair work, it's stable. But I haven't been able to fully get rid of the fracture lines, so it makes mode shifts in me more pronounced. Like just now, I was focused in on the programming. This condition is letting me focus noticeably better than before, but it also makes it harder to shift my focus, such as switching from programming to telling you what's going on in my head."

Zero narrowed his eyes at him. "And it's making you less alert when focused."

Nodding, he said, "I know, sorry."

"So it's not going to make you have split personalities then?"

"Not as I am," X explained. "I suppose that if I got hit with a similar attack or energy, that would be a potential hazard. I might split up into five different people then?"

He looked surprised. "Five, huh?"

X frowned. "Well that's how many of these 'modes' I've noticed so far. The extra focus is useful for these experiments and planning, but I'd better get it fixed completely before I go back into battle. Actually," he looked back at his programming computer, "I've noticed that these reploids I've been designing, they'd be excellent fits for some of those modes. I would like the time to copy those out of my head and adjust it for them; it would make the process a lot faster and I'm almost certain that would work."

"Then they'd be like your direct children, huh?" Zero looked at the screen, seeing part of the design. It was odd to think about, but it suited X.

Looking thoughtful, he said, "Right. Anyhow, we need to get things started. Cinnamon should be along shortly. If this does work out, then we should be able to eliminate the Maverick threat entirely." He got up out of the chair and looked over the arranged equipment.

"And if that works, I want to be put into hibernation, like I've said," Zero stated. "I'm not meant for a peaceful world."

"Oh," X said, sounding saddened at the mention of that. "Are you still certain of that?"

Zero closed his eyes. One of the few doubts he had about that was what would happen to X. He didn't care much for what others thought, but X was like his brother after so many years. The idea that he would upset him about this made Zero feel a twinge of guilt. Then again, there were others out there who supported and were friends with X. He easily had more friends now than Zero ever had over his whole life.

"It's your decision," X said, sounding more neutral this time. "But first make sure that you won't regret it later."

* * *

 

The view from the top floor of Central Tower really was amazing. It stood so tall over the rest of Giga City, but was still dwarfed by the vastness of the sea and sky. And here she was, standing by the railing and so small compared to the tower. That wasn't even considering the depths below the ocean, and the vastness of the city's electronic network.

Nana shivered, even though the wind playing with her pink hair was warm. The city was greater than any one of them, but it depended on all of them. Human and reploid. After some initial hesitation, it was getting to be that way again. Humans had moved back in to the area and started to mingle with the reploids. But it wouldn't fully go back to what it had been. The war had changed Giga City too much for that.

A cheerful whoop distracted her from the view. She turned to see a reploid couple had joined her up here; they were excited and possibly celebrating. It was Kratos and Yellow Sunbee, two of the experienced fighters from the Resistance. But looking at them now, she almost couldn't tell that. They were acting like little kids.

As much as she didn't want to disturb whatever they had going on, she called over to them. "Hello and good afternoon, Sunbee, Kratos."

They looked at her a moment, then came over. "Oh, hello Nana!" Sunbee said cheerily. "Oh my gosh, I almost didn't recognize you out walking around. Are your new friends helping out with the city operations?"

She nodded. "Right, they're fully trained up now. We're putting in eight hour shifts, and with the four of us, we get every fourth day off. They let me take the first one."

"That sounds like a nice arrangement," Kratos said. "What are you doing on your day off, then?"

"I'm just out enjoying the sights now," Nana said, glancing off at the sky before turning back to them. "I've seen so much of the electronic inside of the city that I haven't seen much of its physical outside. It rather puts things into perspective." Then she smiled. "But what are you two doing out? You're acting like you've won the lottery."

They both laughed. "Well not quite that, but just as good for us," Sunbee said.

"We got our official pardons from the Maverick Hunters today, and they've taken every accusation of being Maverick off both our records," Kratos explained. "That means all of our restrictions are gone and we're free to pretty much be normal reploids now. It might not sound like much, but it's absolutely wonderful to us."

"Congratulations then," Nana said. "What are you going to do now?"

"I think we're going to stay in Giga City," Sunbee said. "It's still our city of dreams, you know, and we're going to help build it back up to what it should be."

"Right, it is," Nana said. "Everyone has to get back up and keep going ahead, to show that we're strong enough not to get broken over one conflict."

"That's the spirit!" Kratos shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "Oh, and if it's you're first day off, you really have to go see the forest district."

"Yeah!" Sunbee agreed. "It's so beautiful over there. Come on, we can go make up a spontaneous picnic over there."

Nan put her hand on her chest. "Are you sure? I don't want to intrude on your celebrations."

"Don't worry about it," Kratos said. "We can be friends and celebrate together."

Yes, she was free to make friends too, Nana realized, now that she wasn't tied down to the city all day, every day. That was a sense of freedom almost as big as the panorama around them. "Of course," she said. "What should we take there?"

And so Giga City would continue thriving, welcoming all walks of life that came to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a better ending! Because, you know, it's an actual ending.  
> There is some debate on which X series game is the last one, this one or 8. CM makes more sense to me as the last, which means I got to put in little ties to the Zero series, such as Wiel and the cyber elves. The force metal to cyber elf transition came to me because they kind of do the same thing. The metal state would be their dormant form (for extended space travel by meteorite), and the elf form their active form after they've been attached to a reploid for long enough. I have also heard theories linking Cinnamon to the Mother Elf. If the force metals are dormant elves, and she can manufacture the metals, that might work out.  
> I've also seen talk about how the four Neo Arcadia Guardians coming about because of X splitting up into five cyber elves after some powerful attack from Wiel. Honestly, it sounds weird and I don't remember if that was supposed to be canon or not. I think it is, so I made some foundation for that. I'm not sure how that would work specifically, but having previous fractures made worse makes more sense to me than a spontaneous split. And yeah, this has been in this fic since the Prologue; remember when X and Axl were 'arguing' about the designs?  
> There is no clue about what happened to the Giga City crew after this game. Marino has a line about she won't be stealing anymore (except maybe on weekends), but that's it. Having Massimo become a Maverick Hunter or part of Giga City's security forces makes sense, as does Cinnamon staying to help her father. But this is mostly guessing on my part, building off of what is there.  
> And there you have it. I hope you liked this story!


End file.
